Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) Appellate Authority has recently passed orders to set aside the order, in which TNPCB was granted permission to Coimbatore Corporation to establish a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) very close to a few residential areas on the Nanjundapuram Road in city.
Past president of Parsn Apex and STP committee member G. Premanand said that the order passed by the appellate authority on August 25, 2015, is a victory for the battle fought by residents of the locality from the year 2009. Residents of Mayflower Sakthi Gardens and Parsn first approached the Madras High Court challenging the permission granted for establishing the STP. Residents contested that the STP should not be established in their locality as the permission was granted by the TNPCB in violation of its guidelines to establish a STP – that it should be at least 500 metres away from nearby residential localities. They (residents) also cited that health hazards, bad odour and noise pollution were possible threats that the STP would pose to the residents of hundreds of houses there.
The STP works were paused in 2009 and has not resumed so far. Meanwhile, the case was taken before the National Green Tribunal, which in turn directed the TNPCB Appellate Authority. “Setting aside orders passed to establish STP is the victory of a six-year long struggle by the residents,” Mr. Premanand added.
He quoted the order passed by the appellate authority that “large amount of public money spent by Corporation should not be the reason for TNPCB to deviate from its path. On considering rights of the residents for a clean environment, the issuance of consent order by TNPCB for establishment of STP in a site very close to residential is imperfect and incorrect.”
