NGT slaps Rs 15 lakh fine on pharma unit in UP for pollution

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal on Friday slapped a fine of Rs 15 lakh on a pharmaceutical unit in Uttar Pradesh for discharging untreated effluents in the open.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar imposed the fine on Gajraula-based Teva API India Limited after an inspection team found that the discharge from the sewage treatment plant (STP) was not of permissible standards.

The tribunal also directed the pharma unit to comply with all the recommendations made by the joint inspection committee and submit a compliance report to the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board.

The green panel asked the company to deposit the amount with the Board and allowed it to resume its operations.

"The joint inspection team constituted by the tribunal had inspected this industry and found that the discharge from STP was beyond permissible limits....

"The counsel appearing for the applicant submits that in order to show their bonafide and to bring the trade effluents within the prescribed parameters, they would deposit the sum of Rs 15 lakh," the bench noted.

Earlier, the NGT had ordered closure of 13 industrial units in Uttar Pradesh after inspections found them violating pollution norms.

The bench had passed the order after noting the findings of the inspection team which informed that effluents discharged in the Bagad river were beyond the prescribed limits.

Bagad, which spans a distance of 200 kms, contained heavy industrial pollutants from Gajraula and Bhagrala industrial clusters as there was no common effluent treatment plant on this river.

In a detailed report covering various aspects of contamination in the river, the CPCB had informed the NGT that the Ganga, spanning a distance of 543 km between Haridwar and Kanpur, was affected by 1,072 seriously polluting industries which were releasing heavy metals and pesticides.

At present, 823.1 million litres per day of untreated sewage and 212.42 MLD of industrial effluents flow into the river, while three of the four monitored Sewage Treatment Plants were non-compliant with the set standards, it said.