The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed fines totalling Rs 79,098 crore on states and Union territories for non-compliance with municipal solid waste management rules and other environmental violations in 2022-23, the government informed Parliament on Thursday.
According to the data provided by Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Tamil Nadu faces the highest fine of Rs 15,419 crore, followed by Maharashtra (Rs 12,000 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 9,688 crore). The NGT directed Uttar Pradesh to pay Rs 5,000 crore, Bihar Rs 4,000 crore, Telangana Rs 3,800 crore, West Bengal Rs 3,500 crore, Karnataka Rs 3,400 crore and Delhi Rs 3,132 crore for not complying with the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and other environmental violations.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) monitors the water quality of aquatic resources at 4,703 locations in 28 states and eight Union territories under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP). The programme covers surface, coastal and groundwater locations in collaboration with the state pollution control boards (SPCBs) and pollution control committees (PCCs) on different periodic bases.
Based on the analysis of the water quality data for the years 2019 and 2021 (2020 was excluded due to the COVID-19 pandemic), 311 polluted river stretches across 279 rivers in 30 states and Union territories have been identified, primarily focusing on the indicator of organic pollution, that is, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (3 milligram per litre), using data from 603 rivers at 1,920 locations.
The CPCB also conducts monitoring under the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring programme in partnership with the SPCBs and PCCs at regular intervals. The programme includes a network of 1,447 ambient air quality monitoring stations (516 continuous and 931 manual), covering 516 cities in 28 states and seven Union territories.
