NGT fines three industries for polluting river

Nine days after it shut 13 polluting industries along Bagad river in Uttar Pradesh, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday fined Rs 10 lakh each on three of the industries.

A NGT bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar found that Gajraula-based ASP Sealing Products Ltd, Dairy India Pvt Ltd and Umang Dairies Ltd were discharging untreated effluents into the river and contaminating ground water.

The industries would remain shut till further orders.

The bench asked the three industries to deposit Rs 10 lakh each and will soon take a decision on the other 10 industries it ordered closed on April 26.

The fine is to be deposited with the Central Pollution Control Board.

The tribunal also slammed the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board for granting permission to such polluting industries.

Earlier, a high-level committee inspected the 13 industries dealing in various products, including chemicals.

A committee report pointed out that the industries used fresh water for dilution, dumped their effluents outside without treating a major part and thus caused huge environmental and groundwater pollution.

The Central Pollution Control Board in a 2013 report said that the Ganga was linked by 138 drains that carry a discharge of 6,087 million litres a day.

Most drains were in West Bengal (54), followed by Uttar Pradesh (45), Bihar (25) and Uttarakhand (14).

--IANS

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