Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 20 May: The National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has paid an environmental compensation charge (ECC) of Rs 3,28,68,750 to the Arunachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (APSPCB) for violating the environmental norms in the construction of the Roing (Lower Dibang Valley) to Anini (Dibang Valley) highway project.
The APSPCB had levied the ECC against the NHIDCL under Section 33 (A) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, on 19 October, 2021, after the intervention of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) Kolkata-based eastern zone bench, following a petition filed by environmentalist Mipi, a resident of Anini.
Mipi had accused the NHIDCL of violating the Construction & Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016 and causing threat to endangered forest species, aquatic lives and wildlife by dumping muck and debris haphazardly along the Roing-Anini highway.
He further claimed that “major environmental norms violations are being found at 183 kilometres NH 313, which is connecting strategic and border district Dibang Valley headquarters Anini.”
The APSPCB observed that, “in the highway project from Roing to Anini, from 16 km to Anini, the total length of 184 kilometres has been found to be dumping muck or debris down the slope of the hilly terrain, which is violation of environmental norms.”
