GURGAON: The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Tuesday imposed environmental compensation of Rs 3.4 crore on the developer of a Sector 67 condominium for discharging untreated sewage into vacant plots near residential areas. The board said it will also prosecute the developer of Ansal Esencia.
Action was announced after HSPCB and the district administration, on the directions of the National Green Tribunal, formed a committee to inspect the 242-acre housing society and submit a factual report on the allegations.
In April, the society’s RWA had approached NGT, alleging that the sewage and effluent treatment plants (STPs) had not been constructed in violation of the terms of environmental clearance granted to the developer.
Ansal Properties and Infrastructure could not be reached for comment till Wednesday evening.
After the inspection on August 22, the joint committee of HSPCB officials, district magistrate and members of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) concluded in their report that the two STPs at the housing complex were lying abandoned. This, it said, violated the environmental clearance granted to the developer on August 20, 2018.
“The project proponent and developer of the said complex has not installed the required Sewage Treatment Plants. leave aside its operation to comply with the environmental condition as stipulated in the consent to operate. This eventually also violates the condition of recycling the treated sewage for non-potable use and thereby increasing the load on the water environment,” the report submitted to NGT on October 17 said.
“A case for prosecution action under relevant act is under process...” it added.
The developer of Ansal Esencia, where possession of flats began in 2012-13, was supposed to build three STPs with combined capacity to treat 4,700 kilo litres per day (KLD). Of this, only two STPs of 65KLD were set up, according to the report. “It was supposed to be developed as a low-density, eco-friendly colony and the developers had submitted a plan for disposal and treatment of sewage, and harvest rainwater. The plan was approved, but not a single STP is operational,” said Dharmendra Tanwar, RWA president of Ansal Esencia.
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