Pollute? Pay Up

The NGT’s initiatives to clean up the Yamuna get a fillip from the apex court which upholds the green tribunal’s order asking the Delhi government to levy sewerage charges on all households

- Papia Samajdar

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IN May 2015, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued an order directing the authorities to charge every household in Delhi an environmental compensation amount for generating sewage, based on the polluter pays principle. This was irrespective of a household being connected to the sewerage system or not.

A fine of `5,000 was to be charged if individuals or municipal corporations were caught dumping sewage in the drains or the Yamuna. Also banned were illegal or unauthorized washing, slaughtering and running of dairies.

However, the impact of the order has been limited due to various reasons, not the least being judicial interventions. That the enforcement of the order itself was not mandatory is another major drawback. Thus, for more than four years, the NGT’s orders, given in 2015, went largely ignored.

However, on October 24, 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the NGT’s Sep tember 2019 order issued to the Delhi government asking it to start levying sewerage charges on all households in the capital within two months. Invoking the polluter pays principle concept, the green court asked the Delhi government and its departments to include a sewerage charge for households which generate sewerage. The order was part of the Tribunal’s initiatives aimed at reducing pollution in the Yamuna and protecting its biodiversity.

The NGT also warned the enforcing authorities that stiff fines would be imposed if the order was not followed. The Tribunal also gave an action plan to control pollution levels in the river.