NGT forms panel to prepare muck dumping action plan

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday formed a six-member committee to prepare an action plan on dumping of muck near the Polavaram dam in Andhra Pradesh.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel noted that there is adverse impact of cofferdams on upstream areas and huge dumping of muck has taken place without proper environmental management plan. "We find that the issue needs to be addressed by preparing an appropriate action plan by a committee with relevant experts and headed by a former judge," the bench said.

The NGT constituted a six-member committee to be headed by Justice B Seshasayana Reddy, former judge of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and with nominees of the Union environment ministry, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Central Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute, Dehradun, IIT, Hyderabad and IIT-Delhi. "The committee will visit the site at least once and conduct public hearing, if necessary. Except for such visit, it will be free to conduct proceedings online. The committee will be at liberty to take the assistance of any other experts/organisation," the bench also comprising Justice S K Singh and expert member Nagin Nanda said.

The tribunal directed that the committee will compile information about the extent of generation and disposal of muck at the designated dumping sites and safety measures being adopted for the stability of the dumping sites.

It will also assess the damage to the environment and consider the question whether compensation for acquisition of land remains to be paid, the NGT said. "The committee may commence its functioning as far as possible within two weeks. The nodal agency will be the CPCB and the State PCB for coordination and compliance. The State PCB and the district magistrate concerned will provide logistic support. The state PCB will bear the requisite expenses for functioning of the committee, in the first instance," it said.

Honorarium of the chairman of the committee and non-official members may be determined by the chairman, State PCB in consultation with the chairman of the committee, the NGT said. The Andhra state pollution control board will also pay a sum of Rs 2 lakh to petitioner, Andhra Pradesh native, Pentapati Pulla Rao to meet the litigation cost.

The committee may give its report as far as possible within three months, it said. Rao, in his plea, alleged that illegal dumping of muck was taking place during construction of Polavaram project which was damaging the environment. The plea through advocate Sravan Kumar alleged environment violations at the site and claimed that a huge quantity of waste material was being dumped in agricultural lands near Polavaram project.

According to the applicant, the environmental clearance was granted in 2005 and revised in 2009 but the project was expanded in the year 2016 when further land was acquired, without taking additional precautions to mitigate the adverse impact of additional activities. Polavaram, which the Andhra Pradesh government claims is the "lifeline of the state", was declared as a national project under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014