CHENNAI: The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has upheld the environmental compensation levied against six industries in Ambattur Industrial Estate for operating without consent from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).
Korattur People's Welfare and Awareness Trust had moved NGT saying units in Ambattur Industrial Estate were letting untreated effluent into Korattur lake and sought restraining orders. The tribunal had formed a joint committee to find out the nature of violation.
As per the committee's report, there were 2.976 units, of which 784 had obtained valid consent and few were closed and vacated the premises. A total of 956 units were brought under the 'Green' category based on the pollution index.
There were 153 defaulting industries and recommended the TNPCB to impose environmental compensation for the violations.
Six industries against whom a Rs 15.60 lakh penalty was imposed had challenged it saying the tribunal's orders were to check for untreated effluent, but the compensation was levied for not having consent.The tribunal, while disposing of the applications filed by the industries, said the TNPCB has powers to penalise and initiate action.