New Delhi, July 26: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana to deposit Rs 100 crore with the District Magistrate related to an incident where seven persons were charred to death in a fire at a garbage dump site in Ludhiana in April earlier this year.

The NGT said the Municipal Corporation Ludhiana might deposit a sum of Rs 100 crore with the District Magistrate, Ludhiana, towards interim compensation within one month, to be kept in a separate account, to be utilised for remedial measures in terms of the report that will be overseen by the Monitoring Committee.
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The NGT in an order passed on July 25, stated that the MC was unable to make such a deposit, it might be done by the state government. It is open to the MC to recover the amount from those contributing to the garbage or those who failed to perform their duties, as per law.
The Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel in order further stated that in view of the preponderance of probabilities that the death of seven persons is attributable to the fire of the dump site, the Municipal Corporation is held liable to pay compensation to their next of kin by way of deposit with the District Magistrate, Ludhiana within one month.
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The compensation is assessed at Rs 57.5 lakh - Rs 10 lakh each for persons aged above 50 and Rs.7.5 lakh each for persons below 20. "We direct that the District Magistrate may deposit the amount with a bank with the direction that a sum of Rs 5 lakh be paid immediately to the sole surviving male member of the family and the remaining be kept in fixed deposit, to be paid at Rs 5 lakh every year with accrued interest till the entire amount is disbursed," the NGT Bench added.
Most of the victims belonged to the rag picker family who were living for the last 10 years near the site with a huge dump of 20 lakhs tonne. The deceased were identified as Suresh (55), his wife Rona Rani (50), and their children Rakhi (15), Manisha (10), Chandini (5), Geeta (6) and Sunny (2).
-PTC News