NGT directs railways to furnish Rs 50L performance guarantee to check air pollution in Rewari

The National Green Tribunal has directed the railways to submit a performance guarantee of Rs 50 lakh for preventing air pollution at Khori station in Haryana's Rewari district. A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore directed the senior divisional commissioner manager of North-West Railways to appear before it on September 11 to apprise it about the progress of the work done.

"It is made clear that the performance guarantee should be furnished within two weeks," the tribunal said in a recent order. The green panel also expressed displeasure over an affidavit filed by the railways saying it had "contradictory averments".

"A bare perusal of the affidavit filed on behalf of the railways shows that though it has been filed by senior officer of the rank of senior divisional commercial manager but it is full of contradictory averments. For instance, it has been categorically submitted that the railway has erected 650 metres long wall whose heights have been raised to 15 metres from 12 metres," the bench said. "Whereas, in the later part of the same para it has been deposed that a tender has been uploaded on railway portal in respect of raising of the height of the boundary wall. Moreover, the response filed by state pollution control board categorically denied many of the work which are said to have been done by the railways," it added.

The tribunal had earlier constituted a joint team of the Central Pollution Control Board and the Haryana Pollution Control Board to look into a complaint by local resident Jail Lal who alleged that air pollution was being caused in and around the railway station due to loading and unloading of clinker, gypsum and cement etc. According to the report, PM 10 levels were found to be beyond the permissible limits and there was severe air pollution in the area. The inspection team also submitted a slew of measures to tackle air pollution in the area.

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