Shillong: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Meghalaya government to take action against “offending coke plants” in the state.
The Green Court also directed the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board to recover the environmental compensation of Rs. 5, 05, 20,000 crores from the illegal coke factories in areas within the jurisdiction of the Elka Sutnga under East Jaintia Hills District according to the procedure established by law,
“We are rather surprised that the State which is the custodian of the welfare of its people is espousing the cause of violators of environmental laws,” the NGT’s eastern zone bench in Kolkata, headed by Justice B Amit Sthalekar (judicial member) and Saibal Dasgupta (expert member) noted in its order on Friday.
The state government has argued that the offending coke plants in the East Jaintia Hills district were established much before the notification and Consent to Operate was granted and so “acquired a vested right and therefore, no action can be taken” against these plants.
However, the green court termed the state government’s argument that no action can be taken as a “wholly fallacious presumption” and said this presumption is based upon a misconception of the environmental laws and the rigour of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as well as Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
The NGT gave the state government four months time to take action against these coke plants in East Jaintia Hills to comply with laid down environmental and other norms.
“Black soot emanating from the chimneys of such offending coke plants continues in violation of state Pollution Control Board and has no respect of human life or of the degradation and destruction of flora and fauna…such offending units must be made compliant of the notification dated 23.12.2020 and no person can be said to have acquired a vested right which is in violation of law,” the tribunal observed.
The notification for establishing coke plants with an installed production capacity of less than 25,000 metric tons per annum points out that the units should be located within a distance of one kilometer from each other and the minimum distance between two clusters should be five kilometers.
The notification further specified that the distance from the main road of stand-alone coke plants should be 500 meters. The distance from major streams, rivers, and lakes should be at least 100 meters. The distance from the outer limit of village habitation should be one kilometer, and the distance from important public places such as hospitals, schools, and tourist spots should be one kilometer.
The NGT also directed the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board to undertake continuous monitoring of Coke Plants to check whether environmental norms are violated and if so, take action in accordance with the law.
