Hauz Khas eateries land in a soup

More than 30 of the 41 restaurants in one of Delhi's most popular hubs have shut down temporarily after the pollution board cracked the whip

Around 1 pm on any Saturday, Hauz Khas village is usually teeming with people. You can see young men and women looking to find a table at the numerous eateries in this quaint corner of Delhi or visiting the many art galleries that dot the area. This Saturday, however, things are a bit quiet. There are hardly any people, apart from couples seeking some privacy at the Hauz Khas monument. Most of the restaurants have "closed" signs plastered on the doors. Else, they have guards posted at the entrance turning people away. The restaurants are shut till September 24 on the orders of the National Green Tribunal.

The tribunal has stated that these restaurants "are not only operating without proper clearance as per law but are discharging effluent, drawing potable water, apart from causing nuisance and environmental hazards in the said village".

Trouble began in August when the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) issued show- cause notices to 33 of the 41 restaurants operating in the area. DPCC, on inspecting the eateries, found that they did not have the Consent to Establish or the Consent to Operate. And, none of them had the mandatory effluent treatment plant (ETP). Sandeep Mishra, DPCC's member secretary, says that all eateries in the city need to first take permission from the agency. Even now, only 19 restaurants have responded to the show-cause notice and expressed their intention to comply with the norms, says Mishra. However, none of them has the necessary permits. Among the restaurants that have been asked to close are Yeti which is famous for Himalayan cuisine, He Said She Said, Raasta, The Grey Garden which serves Italian and Mediterranean food, The Golconda Bowl know for Hyderabadi cuisine, Cashmere, Amour and Raas, popular for Indo-Pak food.

The main charge is that the eateries are extracting groundwater and polluting water bodies by discharging untreated liquid waste into the sewers. Restaurant-owners claim that they weren't aware that installing an effluent treatment plant was a must before starting operations. "Where is the space to install an ETP in most restaurants here? Most eateries are very small in size," says Surojit Gupta, the manager of Fat Nimja. He adds, "We took all the other permissions - from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Police and the fire department. If we knew, why wouldn't we take this one as well?"

TB Karki, the manager at Yeti, says that all the establishments were planning to set up a large ETP together. "It's not possible to have ETPs for each restaurant because of space constraint," he says. "We have asked DPCC for suggestions." Satinder Sharma, the owner of Kaffeine, adds, "Some of the restaurants operate on terraces. Where do you expect them to install the plant? Besides, the roads here are so narrow that ETPs can't be installed."

DPCC is not buying this argument. "We gave them a month's notice to set up an ETP, but they haven't done it. It doesn't take that long and it costs Rs 2-3 lakh. These posh restaurants can certainly afford it," says Mishra. DPCC clearly states that the eateries should also have oil and grease traps for the effluent from their kitchens. Until now, most of the liquid water was being flushed down the drains. The other kitchen waste - biodegradable and non-biodegradable - is disposed of in the community dump at the entrance of Hauz Khas village.

September 24 is two days away. Owners of most of the eateries say it is too less a time to install ETPs. "Well, we gave them a month," says Mishra. "But they did nothing about it." Ignorance, he adds, cannot be a plea for exemption.