CHENNAI:Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on Thursday informed the South Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) that three senior officials were placed under suspension, even as State government transferred the investigation into the Ranipet tannery accident to CB-CID.
The NGT (SZ) Bar Association had moved a petition before the tribunal seeking CB-CID enquiry on the incident and sought setting up of a committee to inspect all tanneries and common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) to ensure that they have the necessary approvals to establish and operate and also to find out whether the CETPs were safe.
When the petition came up for hearing before the tribunal comprising judicial member, Justice P Jyothimani and Expert Member, R Nagendran, TNPCB counsel submitted a status report on the incident.
It stated that the Board had suspended Joint Chief Environment Engineer, S Charles Rodriquez, District Environment Engineer, P Kamaraj, and Assistant Environment Engineer M Muralidaran, as an immediate measure. In addition, 10 officials attached to the Vellore region of TNPCB have laso been transferred.
Further, the counsel said electricity supply to all the 79 tanneries in Vellore district has been disconnected temporarily and a four-member multi-disciplinary group has been set up to probe the incident. Recording the submissions, the tribunal directed TNPCB to inspect all the 79 tanneries and CETPs.