Jayashree Nandi
NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal made it clear on Tuesday that the "idea was not to close down restaurants" but to strike a balance, making sure that the establishments follow regulations and do not discharge untreated waste water into sewers.
The courtroom was packed with restaurant owners who kept pleading with the bench to allow them to reopen their restaurants. The bench reserved its decision for Wednesday and assured restaurant owners that they will "speed up" the process via an "early hearing".
While many restaurant owners were emotional and said the crackdown had hurt their trade and the livelihoods of their employees, the bench asked them to formally submit applications required to include them as party respondents in the case.
The member secretary of Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Sandeep Mishra, who was summoned by the bench in the previous hearing, made a detailed submission on the status of enforcement of the policy for restaurants and hotels. He said approximately 20,000 restaurants were running in the city out of which only 122 had been given show cause notices and 32 served closure orders. Strangely, DPCC did not have data on how many restaurants had obtained its mandatory consent. DPCC's policy for restaurants and hotels was released in October 2012.
The bench said its interim order of closing all restaurants will remain in force and directed DPCC to inspect the eateries during the day to ascertain which of them have installed ETPs. "In some of these restaurants, meals cost up to Rs 5,000. For an ETP they have to pay barely Rs 1-2 lakh," Mishra observed. He also argued that the excuse that restaurants don't have space doesn't hold because ETPs can now be improvised and made to fit in a small space.
On Tuesday, all the restaurant owners who were present said they had either made purchase orders for ETPs or were planning on installing one. Two of them had already applied for DPCC's consent for operation on Monday.
The bench also directed that South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Commissioner of Police and Delhi Jal Board be made party respondents in the case.
The National Green Tribunal on Friday had ordered all restaurants running without DPCC's consent to be closed till the next hearing on Tuesday. They were found to be discharging untreated waste water into the sewers and also drawing groundwater. The NGT had also said the order would act as an injunction against any new eating joint coming up in the area.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
'Idea wasn't to close restaurants'
Dengan url
http://sehatputihgigiku.blogspot.com/2013/09/idea-wasnt-to-close-restaurants_25.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
'Idea wasn't to close restaurants'
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
'Idea wasn't to close restaurants'
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar