NOIDA: The Noida authority has filed first information report (FIRs) against 15 housing societies besides these societies being fined worth ₹1.5 crore over dumping untreated waste into the city’s drains, officials said on Sunday.
According to the national green tribunal (NGT) directions, these societies are supposed to set up treatment plants to treat the waste and then discharge the same into drains. The Authority has been carrying out the site inspections inside the housing societies since 2022, and imposing penalties including filing of FIRs for violation of the rules, said officials.
The action followed the national green tribunal (NGT), on August 3, 2022 during a case hearing, asking the Noida authority not to dump untreated water into the drains which are finally emptied into river Yamuna. Since then, the Authority has been working on the plan to improve the quality of the treated wastewater to mitigate pollution in Yamuna River, said officials.
On Sunday, the Noida authority said their site inspection will continue along with their action.
“We have imposed a penalty of ₹1.5 crore against 15 apartment owners associations, which are responsible to treat the wastewater before it is dumped into the storm water drains. This penalty has been imposed in the last one-and-a-half years since we intensified our drive to prevent dumping of the untreated waste into drains. Our drive continues and we will impose a penalty and also file a criminal case as per the law,” said RP Singh, general manager and head of water works department at Noida authority told HT on Sunday.
On Friday, the Authority lodged three FIRs after site inspections.
The Authority’s water works department imposed ₹4.85 lakh penalty against AOA of housing society located in Sector 137, for causing public health issues, polluting ground water and violating norms, said officials.
“We found during our inspection that the sewage treatment plant operational inside the campus was not as per the norms. We have filed FIR under the provisions of the Water Act-1974, Air Act-1974 and imposed a penalty for violating the waste management rules-2016/2020. The dumping of untreated wastewater is also an unlawful activity as per the article 272 of the BNS,” Singh added.
The Authority has imposed a penalty of ₹20 lakh, and also filed FIR against another housing complex located in Sector 76, for dumping untreated wastewater into drains.
Similarly, ₹43 lakh penalty was slapped and FIR registered against another AOA of a township located in Sector 45, because the STP was operational in violation of the laid down norms, the Authority said.
“There are a total of 95 housing societies in which the Authority has been carrying out site inspections to enforce the rules so that these do not dump untreated wastewater into the drains. Our drive against these societies will continue to enforce the law,” Singh added.
Rajiva Singh, president, Noida federation of apartment owners’ association, said that the Authority must carry out an awareness drive with the AOAs instead of only filing FIR or slapping penalties.
“Instead of only filing FIR and imposing the penalties the Authority must engage with the AOAs to fix the gaps, and ensure only untreated wastewater is dumped into drains. The AOAs have their own challenges to address, and they need handholding of the authority,” he said.