SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Shifting gears towards implementation of Polluter Pays Principle, industries causing ‘substantial damage’ to the environment will be fined between Rs 10,000 and Rs 10 lakh.
Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) at its recent meeting decided to seriously implement the Polluter Pays Principle and has accordingly classified pollution under three heads: discharge/emission/burning of waste/disposal of solid waste; discharge + emission/discharge + noise/emissions + disposal of solid waste and exceeding prescribed limits for air/water/noise.
The decision has been taken following a series of orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with regards to enforcing the Polluter Pays Principle. In one of the matters, the tribunal had asked the pollution control authority to assess the compensation to be recovered from establishments involved in polluting River Mandovi.
Red category industries exceeding prescribed limits of air or water or noise would be fined Rs 1 lakh or 40 percent of the fees (small units), Rs 5 lakh or 40 percent of fees (medium units) and Rs 10 lakh or 40 percent of fees (large units) whichever is higher.
The fine for orange category industries is between Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh or 30 percent of the fees. Green industries would be fined 20 percent of their fees for the prescribed violation.
For discharge + emission/discharge + noise/emissions + disposal of solid waste the fine varies between Rs 50,000 (small) and Rs 2 lakh (large) or 30 percent of the fees for the industries in the red category. For orange category units, the penalty is Rs 25,000 (small), Rs 40,000 (medium) and Rs 60,000 (large) or 25 percent of the fees, whichever is higher.
Fine in the form of 20 percent of its fees would be also imposed on green industries.
Industries or establishments involved in discharge/emission/burning of waste/disposal of solid waste in open will have to shell out Rs 40,000 (red), Rs 20,000 (orange) and Rs 10,000 (green) or 10 percent of the fees.
The Polluter Pays Principle is important for determining punitive costs of damages from environmental violations caused by industries or individuals.
