The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 12,000 crore as environmental compensation for improper management of solid and liquid waste.
A bench headed by chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel held that the compensation under Section 15 of the NGT Act was necessary to "remedy" the continuing damage to the environment caused due to the shortcomings in waste management.
The bench, also comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member Senthil Vel passed the order pursuant to the Supreme Court directions requiring the tribunal to monitor enforcement of solid and liquid waste management norms. The bench said the decision became necessary to "remedy the continuing damage to the environment".
It said that fixing liability was "necessary for restoration". "Without fixing quantified liability necessary for restoration, mere passing of orders has not shown any tangible results in the last eight years (for solid waste management) and five years (for liquid waste management), even after expiry of statutory/ laid down timelines," the bench said.
It added that continuing damage was required to be prevented in future, and the past damage was to be restored. The NGT determined the compensation in respect of gap in treatment of liquid waste to be about Rs 10,840 crore, and in respect of un-remediated legacy waste to be around Rs 1,200 crore, and rounded the amount off to Rs 12,000 crore.
The bench directed the state government of to deposit the amount in a separate ring-fenced account to be operated according to the directions of chief secretary and utilised for restoration measures. The restoration measures for sewage management would include establishing sewage treatment and utilisation systems, upgrading systems/operations to ensure full capacity utilisation, ensuring compliance with standards, including those for faecal coliform, and establishing proper faecal sewage and sludge management in rural areas, it said.
In terms of solid waste management, the NGT said that the action plan involves the establishment of required waste processing units as well as the rehabilitation of 84 sites that have been overlooked. It added that the bioremediation/bio-mining process must be carried out in accordance with CPCB guidelines, and the stabilised organic waste from biomining as well as compost plants must meet laid down specifications.
The bench also stated that the restoration plan must be executed in a time bound manner, and cautioned that if violations continued, additional compensation may be considered against the state. "Compliance will be the responsibility of the chief secretary," it said.
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