National Green Tribunal orders closure of brick kilns in Mathura
A board overseen by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, NGT Chairperson, also directed the state pollution control board (SPCB) in cooperation with the Air Quality Monitoring Committee and the District Magistrate headed by Secretary Environment to make sure the air quality monitoring stations are being established at proper locations.
The NGT saw that brick kilns in Mathura are running throughout the year without any study of the assimilative air capacity of the region and without following the laid down siting criteria and permissions.
The NGT also ordered that permission given to each brick kiln would be reviewed by the SPCB with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
To initiate the further study of the carrying capacity of the area, NGT also formed a five-member committee. It is in terms of the number of brick kilns which can be sustained by practising the relevant parameters and based on appropriate data of air quality
The committee would include Professor Mukesh Khare, former Prof. IIT Delhi, Member Secretary, State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority and Chief Engineer Environment, UP State PCB, and Justice Anil Sharma, former Judge of Allahabad High Court, representative of CPCB of the level not below Additional Director.
The committee may visit the site and communicate with the stakeholders in 15 days to take stock of the circumstances. Afterwards, study the available data of air quality and location of the brick kilns.
The tribunal observed that the norms used for calculating carrying capacity are not as needed. Therefore, allowing more pollution than permissible.
The Mant and Chhata areas of the Mathura District are severely affected by air pollution. The AQI goes over 400, and one of the recognised causes is 350 brick kilns. These are operated by coal using polluted fuel like spent organic, solvent, oily residue, pet coke, filter press cake.
Also read: National Green Tribunal bans brick kilns in NCR during monsoon season