VIJAYAWADA: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a joint-committee to inspect an alleged violation of environment norms by a pharmaceutical unit in the Special Economic Zone, Visakhapatnam district, and submit a report on the issue.
The committee comprises of senior officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), APPCB, AP Coastal Zone Management Authority and forest department, and a scientist from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa.
The committee was constituted following a complaint lodged with the NGT by one Kambala Ammoriya of Visakhapatnam, who alleged that the pharma company violated the environmental clearance granted by the APPCB.
“The firm discharged effluents into the soil without proper treatment, thereby contaminating the soil as well as groundwater. They are illegally discharging chemicals through pipelines into the sea, and affecting the aquatic life,” the complainant alleged. The NGT asked the panel to submit its report by April 4.