CHENNAI: The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will soon start hearing the long-pending cases filed by farmers of Noyyal and Amaravathi river basins seeking compensation for pollution caused by bleaching and dyeing industries.
A large batch of compensation cases were earlier pending before the Loss of Ecology Authority (LoEA). There were about 1.29 lakh compensation claim cases by farmers and other associations against degradation caused by industrial pollution.
The cases relating to compensation awarded by the authority were never heard as the authority was defunct for several years without a chairman and later wound up by the Madras High Court. All its functions were transferred to the southern bench of NGT. These cases also were posted before the tribunal.
Meanwhile, some individual farmers filed separate petitions before the tribunal since the authority was scrapped. When these individual farmers’ cases came up for hearing, Justice P Jyothimani said the tribunal will consider taking a holistic approach once the tribunal is shifted to its new premises at Kalas Mahal. “In all likelihood, the tribunal would be shifted in April second week,” he said.
Jyothimani said NGT was yet to get the official communication from the High Court. Even a dedicated bench, which ought to be formed to hear LoEA cases as per the directions of High Court, is yet to be constituted by the Centre. “We have made the provision for the third bench in the new premises, but appointments have to be made by Centre,” he said.
Advocate B Nagasaila, counsel for Noyyal Ramaswamy, one among the several petitioners, said though the number of cases looks voluminous, the line of contention is uniform. “There is no need for NGT to wait for the third bench to be constituted. The current bench can handle the cases. The affected farmers have been waiting for justice for the past 20 years,” she told Express and added that Justice Jyothimani was positive about commencing process next month.
Noyyal and Amaravathi basins have suffered due to pollution by dyeing and bleaching units. For instance, discharging industrial effluents into Noyyal has made the river water unfit for irrigation and drinking. The pollution also adversely affected the Orthapalayam reservoir and other tanks and channels of the river.
Earlier, the Loss of Ecology Authority in its award pronounced on December 17, 2004 had noted that 28,449.816 hectares in 68 villages comprised in seven taluks of Coimbatore, Erode and Karur districts were affected and assessed a compensation of Rs 25 crore, which was challenged by the farmers in High Court. The same is the case with farmers from Amaravathi basin.