Jalandhar, Aug 12 — The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) principal bench has directed the municipal commissioner of Jalandhar to immediately pay ₹3.6 crore in pending environmental compensation to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).
The PPCB had levied a total penalty of ₹4.6 crore on the municipal corporation for failing to comply with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. “Despite repeated reminders, only ₹90 lakh has been paid,” the tribunal noted. It further instructed the PPCB to utilise the recovered amount for environmental restoration in the district within six months.
The NGT observed that solid waste management rules remain unimplemented in Jalandhar, with basic infrastructure absent and unsegregated waste continuing to pile up at legacy dump sites.
In a related directive, the tribunal ordered the removal of the garbage dump near PPR market within four weeks, while disposing of a case concerning a dump earlier cleared from opposite the Model Town cremation ground.
City-based activist Tejasvi Minhas had alleged that part of the original dump was illegally relocated near PPR market, where waste was again being dumped in violation of environmental norms. The NGT ordered the commissioner to ensure no illegal dumping occurs at either site.
