AMALAPURAM: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) to pay over Rs 1 crore as Environmental Compensation for violations of environmental norms at its facilities in the Krishna-Godavari Basin.
In a 298-page judgment issued on July 15, the NGT Southern Zone Bench in Chennai held ONGC accountable for non-compliance at its facilities in the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh.
As per the order, ONGC’s Odalarevu Onshore Terminal and Kesanapalli Group Gathering Station (GGS) must each pay Rs 36.6 lakh, while the Tatipaka Gas Collecting Station (GCS) has been fined Rs 27.6 lakh. The tribunal ordered that the compensation be paid within a week.
The case was filed in 2020 by environmentalist and NRI Venkatapathi Raja Yenumula, who raised concerns about pipeline oil leaks damaging agricultural land and water bodies in the region. The case was registered as O.A. No. 175 of 2020.
To evaluate the impact, the NGT appointed a Joint Committee comprising senior officials from the Ministry of Environment, the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, the Collectors of erstwhile East and West Godavari, and a petroleum engineering expert from Andhra University.
Following the committee’s findings of non-compliance, the NGT had earlier ordered ONGC to pay Rs 22.76 crore in environmental compensation. ONGC paid Rs 7.52 crore in September 2022 and the remaining Rs 15.24 crore on December 22, 2023. Despite the earlier penalty, further violations were reported.
The AP Pollution Control Board found that Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) at the ONGC sites in Odalarevu, Kesanapalli, and Tatipaka did not meet environmental discharge standards. Tatipaka committed to upgrading its ETP by May 31, 2024, but the Odalarevu unit remained non-compliant as of September 10, 2024.
Based on continued lapses, the APPCB calculated additional compensation for 122 days of violations at Odalarevu and Kesanapalli, and 92 days at Tatipaka. The findings were submitted to the NGT, which issued the latest compensation order.