The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled up the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) for misreading its order related to the environment compensation imposed on a now defunct industrial unit in Edayar for non-disposal of plastic waste kept on its premises for long.
The Southern Bench comprising judicial member Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati asked the PCB to submit a report by September 9. A joint committee appointed by the tribunal had earlier assessed an environmental compensation of โน1.4 crore on the unit for non-disposal of plastic waste. It had also estimated โน72.8 lakh as environmental damages or cost of plastic pollution owing to the plastic remains in the soil and site. The total compensation fixed was โน2.15 crore.
In an order issued by the tribunal on July 7, 2022, there was a direction that the PCB could adjust the amount spent by the company management for the removal of plastic waste dumped on its premises towards the environment compensation fixed by the committee.
The Bench said in its order dated July 29, 2024 that its earlier directive was misread by the PCB after it adjusted the โน2.06 crore spent by the company towards the removal of the plastic waste by levelling the site and renovating it into a parking yard from the total compensation of โน2.15 crore. The PCB had directed the unit to pay the balance of โน9.1 lakh.
The tribunal pointed out that the removal of plastic waste from the land was different from allowing it to remain there. The project proponent has allowed the waste to remain in the landfill and levelled the site into a car park while the order had specifically stated that the dumped waste should be removed from the area. The PCB and the unit had misread the order, it said.
The counsel for the PCB clarified that the plastic waste was removed and only microplastics were present under the levelled area. The Bench suspected that the microplastics may have reached the Periyar in the rainy season.
