New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought action taken report in terms of compliance of siting and environmental norms, including the assimilative capacity of the air to sustain a particular number of brick kilns.
The direction of the Green Tribunal has come while hearing an application against air pollution allegedly caused by the operation of brick kilns in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district resulting in severe health impact on the lives of the citizens.
The Bench of NGT chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel in an order passed on April 13, also constituted a joint committee comprising Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), State PCB, and District Magistrate, Mathura to verify the facts.
The State PCB may also verify whether brick kilns in question are operating without consent, as alleged, in which case the State PCB may take remedial action, following due process of law, said the tribunal.
According to the Petitioner, Mukesh Kumar Aggarwal a local resident, air pollution in Mathura district where AQI crosses 400 one of the identified causes of air pollution is 350 brick kilns operated by coal using polluted fuel like spent organic, solvent, oily residue, pet coke, filter press cake, plastic rubber, leather waste, etc.
The operation of such brick kilns is against declared norms for siting by maintaining the prescribed distance of habitations, educational institutions, and hospitals.
The petitioner alleged that the said kilns do not have the requisite consents and are non-compliant with regard to the siting norms prescribed by CPCB as well as under the Uttar Pradesh government.
The applicant has filed a list of 189 brick kilns which according to the applicant are violating the siting criteria or other environmental norms. It was also submitted that even there is compliance by any individual brick kiln if the assimilative air capacity cannot sustain coal fire brick kilns, such brick kilns cannot operate adding further to the already polluted air.
The applicant has stated that the brick kilns in question are contributing up to 28 percent of air pollution. The Tribunal had also noted that the applicant has filed a list of 189 brick kilns which according to the applicant are violating the siting criteria or other environmental norms.
It is also submitted that even there is compliance by any individual brick kiln if the assimilative air capacity cannot sustain coal fire brick kilns, such brick kilns cannot operate adding further to the already polluted air.
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