NGT fines hotels, malls, hospitals over rainwater harvesting

Taking several hospitals, malls and hotels here to task for not complying with its orders on rainwater harvesting, the National Green Tribunal today imposed fines and issued warrants on many of them and their officials for not installing harvesting systems.
A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, also issued several bailable warrants against officials of the units whose representatives were not present in compliance with the notices issued to them.
The tribunal pulled up the executive engineer of Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital for not complying with its order of installing rainwater harvesting system in its premises.
"Reply has not been filed. The executive engineer of Public Works Department (PWD) submits that existing system has been made functional while new system will be installed by July 31. We impose a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the executive engineer and the medical superintendent of the hospital to be realised from their salary," the bench said.

The tribunal observed that it was thinking of imposing hefty fine on the hospital for non-compliance of its order but preferred leniency saying it will involve tax payers' money.
The bench issued bailable warrant against the medical superintendent of Sanjay Gandhi hospital and ESI hospital in Rohini, as no official was present during the hearing of the case despite notices issued to them.

The green panel warned the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease that if joint inspection did not find its rainwater harvesting system in place and functional, then it would be liable to pay fine as environment compensation.

The tribunal also pulled up other hospitals including Rajan Babu Institute for Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis Hospital, Kasturba hospital, Jai Prakash Narayan hospital, Safdarjung hospital, Jaipur Golden hospital, Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute, Dharamshila Cancer hospital and Research Centre, Santom hospital and HAH Centenary hospital for non-compliance of its order.
It asked the director and medical superintendent of these hospitals to be present on August 7 and directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to inspect these establishments about the compliance of tribunal's order.