Keralam govt requests NGT to exempt it from creating ring-fenced account for liquid waste management

The Keralam government has requested the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to execute various environmental restoration, sewage and solid waste management projects through its existing decentralised plan for local self-government institutions instead of creating a separate, ring-fenced account for it.

The Principal Bench of the tribunal in New Delhi had earlier asked the authorities to set up a single, centralised ring-fenced account at the State level to deposit the funds earmarked as ‘environmental compensation’ for improper waste management. It had objected to the inclusion of funds received under various schemes, including the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme, into the ring-fenced account.

A report submitted by the Department of Local Self Government (LSGD) to the tribunal said that “creating an exclusive ring-fenced account to deposit hundreds of crores in environmental compensation is administratively daunting and contrary to the model of democratic decentralisation practised in the State”.