The
National Green Tribunal on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MoEF) to issue by the year-end a
notification banning RO purifiers where total dissolved solids (TDS) in water
are below 500 milligrams per litre.
A
bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel granted more time to MoEF
after it informed the tribunal that the exercise could not be completed due to
coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Even
after one year, further extension of time has been sought by MoEF on the ground of lock-down. Let necessary action be
now completed positively by December 31, 2020,” the bench said.
The
NGT had earlier said the delay in compliance with its order is causing harm to
public health and environment and it be complied with expeditiously.
The
Ministry had in January sought four months for executing the NGT order.
The MoEF in its plea had said that for effective compliance of
the order four months are required -- two for wide circulation of draft
notification for inviting comments, and two for incorporation of comments, finalisation of notification and obtaining approval from Ministry
of Law and Justice.
The
matter is listed for next hearing on January 25.
The
NGT had on the last date of hearing slammed the ministry for the delay in
issuing the notification and warned the officer concerned of stopping his
salary.
The
tribunal had earlier said its order was based on a report of an expert
committee, which also comprised a representative of the MoEF,
and is enforceable without permission of any other authority with penal
consequences.
In a
bid to regulate the use of RO purifiers, the NGT had directed the government to
prohibit them where TDS is below 500 mg per litre and
to sensitise the public about the ill-effects of demineralised water.
The
tribunal has also asked the government to make it mandatory to recover more
than 60 per cent water wherever RO is permitted across the country.
The
order had come after perusing an expert committee report which said that if TDS
is less than 500 milligrams per litre, a RO system
will not be useful but will result in removing important minerals as well as
cause undue wastage of water.
The
tribunal was hearing a plea filed by NGO Friends seeking conservation of
potable water by preventing its wastage on account of unnecessary use of RO
systems.