Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde to Chair Meet After NGT Imposes ₹12k cr compensation

Mumbai: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde will chair a high-level meeting soon, to decide on the course of action over the National Green Tribunal's order imposing a ₹12,000 crore environmental compensation on the state government over lapses in waste management.

"The chief minister has taken note of this, and a high-level meeting would be conducted on the issue soon," said Bhushan Gagrani, additional chief secretary to the chief minister. Government officials said they were studying the order and as of now the state was unlikely to appeal the order.

"We have been given to understand that the ₹12,000 crore that is meant for mitigation doesn't need to come out of the state budget but could be allocated from the ongoing projects," said a government official.


The NGT asked the Maharashtra government to deposit ₹12,000 crore in a "ringfenced account" within two months. The money is supposed to be used in a time-bound manner to set up sewage treatment plants and solid waste processing plants.

The NGT warned that if the "violations" continued, then the state's "liability to pay additional compensation may have to be considered" and that it would be the responsibility of the Maharashtra chief secretary.

Chief secretary Manu Kumar Srivastava did not respond to questions sent to him on the order.

While passing its orders, the NGT was scathing at the state government for not being able to show any progress on the disposing of solid waste as well as setting up of effluent treatment plants for sewage water. The NGT in its order noted that the state had been sending 2,881 metric tonnes of unprocessed waste to landfills every day. The current gap of not treating sewage water was 5,420.33 million litres per day.

The tribunal held that the state government had not shown "any meaningful progress" since January 2020, when the Maharashtra chief secretary last appeared before the NGT on the issue.Environment secretary Manisha Mhaiskar, when contacted by ET, said queries should be sent to principal secretary, urban development, as the issue concerned her department. Sonia Sethi, the principal secretary, did not respond till press time Friday to a questionnaire sent to her.