india

Updated: Sep 11, 2019 05:08 IST

A group of developers, who own sewage treatment plants (STPs) at their respective residential and commercial establishments, moved a petition in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last week seeking relief after the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) directed them to install online analysers at their STPs to enable real-time monitoring of sewage generation and treatment in the societies.

The developers, in their petition, mentioned an earlier order of the NGT directing the Maharashtra government to upgrade its STPs to meet the city’s requirements rather than forcing developers to install online analysers.

“The cost of the device – online analyser – ranges from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, depending on the STP’s capacity. We are not violators and we are treating sewage on a daily basis,” said one of the developers, requesting anonymity.

The GMDA, on July 16 this year, had sent notices to 366 STP owners directing them to install online analysers by August 31 as it does not have any record of whether these STPs function properly or if they dispose untreated sewer into city’s natural drains.

In its affidavit to the NGT, the GMDA, which is charged with monitoring untreated sewage disposed into the Yamuna, said it has set a December 2021 deadline to streamline the sewage monitoring system. The NGT, in its last hearing on July 12, had sought a comprehensive sewage disposal plan from the Haryana government in connection with the disposal of untreated sewage into the Yamuna via the Najafgarh drain.

GMDA chief engineer Lalit Arora said, “Developers approached the GMDA with the NGT order relating to the Maharashtra government in this regard. We will have to consider it. However, we have not yet received any direction from the NGT in this regard. We want online analysers installed at all the 366 STPs so as to monitor them on a daily basis through the GPS.”

Gurugram and Faridabad are two cities that are on the NGT’s radar as they are the biggest polluters of Yamuna in Haryana and concerns were raised in the Manoj Misra vs State of Haryana, and Subhash Gupta vs Union of India cases —in September 2016.

The green tribunal will pronounce its decision on Wednesday.