•    Polluting industries in “critically polluted” and “severely polluted” areas all over country within 3 month

•    Polluting industries will not be allowed to undertake any industrial activity or expansion in the critically or severely polluted areas until the said areas are brought within the prescribed parameters, or till the carrying capacity of area is assessed and new units or expansion is found viable having regard to the carrying capacity of the area and environmental norms

•    CPCB in co-ordination with State Pollution Control Boards to assess quantum of compensation to be recovered from the polluting industries for last 5 years.

•    Compensation amount to be based on cost of restoration cost of damage to public health and deterrence factor.

CPCB: Crackdown on industries not using eco-friendly fuel despite availability

All industries in Delhi NCR which have not shifted to Piped Natural Gas (PNG) to be closed down by CPCB

•    Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan State pollution control board directed by CPCB to close industries which are not using PNG.

•    Action taken report to be submitted within 15 days by respective state boards, failing which state boards to face strict prosecution from CPCB

•    Shift to cleaner fuel has become eminent owing to findings of the study released by ARAI and TERI in 2018 that industrial pollution contributes at least 27-30% of Delhi’s Pollution

Compliance Takeaway: NGT and CPCB have taken all necessary actions to ensure that no company flouts Environment Laws. In the light of recent developments, companies flouting Environment Laws will be penalised with huge penalties or worse complete closure.