Puri: The Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) Wednesday imposed Rs 1 lakh penalty each on 50 hoteliers for violating environment norms.
The pollution watchdog has directed the hoteliers to deposit the penalty within 15 days, said OSPCB regional officer Hadibandhu Panigrahi.
OSPCB sources said people interested in setting up of hotels in the state are bound to collect Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate certificates from the OSPCB as per the provisions of Water Prevention and Control Act-1974.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had asked the OSPCB to impose fine on hoteliers who did not obtain the twin certificates by August 5, 2015. It had asked the pollution control board to impose anywhere between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh on the errant hoteliers.
State Hotel Owners’ Association had filed a review petition in the NGT and urged it to reduce the amount of penalty. Subsequently, the NGT had directed the board to impose Rs 1 lakh fine on hoteliers who have failed to obtain the twin certificates and Rs 50,000 on those who did not renew the certificates by the cut-off date.
Though the pilgrim city has at least 500 hotels and lodging houses, only 15 of them had collected the twin certificates by August 6, 2015. The OSPCB had earlier fined altogether 140 hoteliers in the city for their failure to adhere to the NGT norms.
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