Over 1cr fine imposed on industrial polluters in HP

Kullu: The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board has imposed a fine of Rs 1.04 crore on industrial polluters for discharging effluents into the rivers, in the last one year. The board, in the last two years, has also imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 61.8 lakh on the state’s urban local bodies, which allegedly failed to manage solid waste.Replying to a question by Gagret MLA Chaitanya Sharma, the government said it was working on an action plan for the rejuvenation of seven identified polluted river stretches – Sukhna Nullah, Markanda, Sirsa, Ashwani, Beas, Pabbar and Giri. The action plan focuses on effective solid waste management and new sewage treatment plants (STPs). The government mentioned that 32 projects on sewage management were underway in urban and rural areas of the state and 13 new projects, with a capacity to treat 10.69 million litres per day (MLD), had been approved. The work on legacy waste clearance was being done via private agencies in seven urban local bodies – Solan, Mandi, Kullu, Mandi, Dharamshala, Baddi and Bilaspur.The NGT had on March 14 ordered a joint committee to inspect and submit a report on pollution in the Markanda due to industrial units in Kala Amb area of Sirmaur district. Two days later, while pulling up the state government for failing to bridge the gap between waste generation and treatment, it had asked it to ring-fence Rs 50 crore for waste management. As per the progress report submitted to the NGT on February 15 by HP chief secretary Prabodh Saxena, out of 365 tonnes per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste generated in 61 urban local bodies of the state, 352 TPD is processed, creating a gap of 13 TPD. Similarly, 91.95 MLD sewage is generated in the state and the installed capacity of the STPs is 114.8 MLD.