The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 100 crore on Kochi Municipal Corporation for its continued neglect of its duties with regard to the dumping site.
An NGT bench headed by its chairman Adarsh Kumar Goel issued the order directing the Kochi Municipal Corporation to deposit the amount with the state chief secretary within a month for necessary remediation measures and to address the health issues faced by people who had inhaled the toxic fumes from the dump site.
The NGT, in its order, also directed the chief secretary to fix accountability for such gross failure and initiate action under criminal law as well as by way of departmental proceedings following due process and place the same in public domain within two months .
The principal bench of the NGT on Friday initiated suo moto proceedings on the Brahmapuram issue based on media reports.
The NGT on Friday pulled up the Kerala government for the disastrous fire at the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant in Kochi that led to severe air pollution in the city for two weeks.After taking up a suo Motu case, the NGT put the onus of fire and the resultant pollution in Kochi on the state government.
Meanwhile, Kochi Mayor M Anil Kumar on Saturday said that the Corporation would go for an appeal against the NGT order,as the compensation is too hefty,which would put the Corporation into a financial crisis.