Shimla, Jan. 30 -- The National Green Tribunal (NGT), has awarded Rs.47.14 lakh as environmental compensation to Kushal Gupta, owner of Himalayan Trout Fish Farm, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, for damage caused due to illegal dumping of muck and debris during bridge construction over Haripur Nallah even when HPPWD and its contractor had tried to blame 2023 flash floods for damage. "... it is established that the contractor had illegally thrown muck and debris in the Haripur Nallah during the course of construction of the bridge which had polluted the water flowing in the nallah and had caused damage to the trout fish farm on the downstream of the nallah resulting in death of thousands of fishes and destruction of fish eggs," ruled NGT while directing Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (HPPWD) and its contractor - KK Mahajan Construction Pvt Ltd) to jointly and severally pay Rs.47,14,000 within two months, with liberty to the state department to recover the amount from the contractor. Gupta had moved the NGT praying for the imposition of environmental compensation and damages upon HPPWD and its contractor for causing environmental damage by not complying with the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on construction and demolition waste and also violating the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Rules. Gupta had told the NGT that he had started a trout fish farm by the name of "Himalayan Trout Fish Farm" in Village Haripur, District Kullu, Himachal Pradesh and stated to have annual turnover of Rs.50 to 60 lakhs. This fish farm is situated downstream of the Haripur Nallah at the distance of 50 metres from the Haripur Kullu, Manali left bank road. Gupta said that for the purpose of the trout fish farm, he was using a nearby creek from where water flowing downstream is fed into the tanks with gravity and eventually returned to the creek giving natural freshwater habitat for trout fish farm with balanced pH level and dissolved oxygen to the species dwelling in the farm. He alleged that the damage was caused to his trout fish farm during the construction of the new bridge on Kullu Manali left bank road at Haripur Nallah adjacent to the old bridge. Gupta had even served notices to HPPWD and contractor about the likely disaster which could occur to the trout fish farm due to dumping and release of debris, muck and excavated sand, cement and other chemicals dug out and used for the purpose of excavation and construction of the bridge. He had requested to avoid any dumping or release of any kind of debris, muck, etc. in the stream/Haripur Nallah which could pollute the water of the stream causing death of fishes and damage to eggs. While disposing off Gupta's application, NGT on January 28, held that the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (HPPWD) and its contractor had violated Section 24 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, resulting in pollution of the stream and death of thousands of trout fish and destruction of fish eggs at the downstream fish farm. The tribunal relied on official inspection reports of the Fisheries Department, Revenue Authorities, Gram Panchayat, and the State Pollution Control Board, which conclusively established environmental damage due to construction activity. In its reply HPPWD had admitted that the construction activity period of Haripur bridge was from December 2018 till January 2022- the trout farm had suffered the damage during this period only. However, HPPWD and contractor in reply had taken the plea that the destruction on account of the flash floods which occurred in the year 2023, however the tribunal held that the material which has been placed on record as noted above clearly reflect that Gupta is claiming compensation much prior to the alleged flash flood....