7 charred to death at dumspite: NGT asks Ludhiana MC to deposit 100 crore

This money has to be deposited within a month. It has to be kept in a separate account which can further be used for remedial measures that will be overseen by the monitoring committee of NGT.

NGT said that in case the municipal corporation was not able to pay the money, the state government can deposit it. The municipal corporation can even recover it from those generating garbage or those failing to perform their duties as per law.

In the intervening night of April 19 and April 20, a fire had broken out near Tajpur Road dumpsite, which had more than 20 lakh metric tonnes of garbage. The seven people who perished in the fire had their hut near the dumpsite. They were ragpickers. The seven members were burned alive while sleeping.

The deceased were identified as Suresh Sahni (55), his wife Rona Rani (50), and the couple’s children Rakhi (15), Manisha (10), Chandini (5), Geeta (6) and Sunny (2). Their 17-year-old son, Rajesh Kumar, survived the blaze as he was sleeping in another hut nearby.

The family had been living in the area for the last 10 years.

Meanwhile, NGT has stated that out of this amount, Rs 57.5 lakh should be set aside for compensation. From this, Rs 5 lakh should be immediately given to the sole surviving male member of the family.

NGT also asked the municipal corporation to follow proper safety measures at dumpsites to prevent such fire incidents. It also asked the state pollution control board to comply with directions of the central pollution control board to observe safety measures at dumpsites.

This hearing was initiated following a report in The Indian Express dated April 20: ‘Seven charred to death in hut fire near Ludhiana dumpsite’.

Ludhiana Mayor Balkar Singh said, “I was out of country, and I still need to go into the details of the NGT order. Will respond accordingly.”