3 min readShimlaJan 29, 2026 05:03 PM IST
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Thursday awarded Rs 47.14 lakh as environmental compensation to the owner of a trout fish farm in Kullu district for damage caused due to illegal dumping of muck and debris during bridge construction over Haripur Nallah. The damage was caused during the time period between 2018-22. The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Expert Member Dr A Senthil Vel.
Kushal Mehta, Owner, Himalayan Trout Fish Farm, moved the Tribunal in 2020. Earlier, the applicant also filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh High Court, but the petition was dismissed.
The Tribunal also held that the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (HPPWD) and its contractor, which were listed as Respondents number-2 and 3, had violated Section 24 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, resulting in pollution of the stream, death of thousands of trout fish and destruction of fish eggs at the downstream fish farm.
The tribunal stated in the order, “The respondent HPPWD in its reply has admitted that the construction activity period of Haripur bridge was from December 2018 till January 2022. The Applicant had suffered the damage during this period only. The respondents including the contractor in their replies had taken the plea that the destruction on account of the flash floods which occurred in the year 2023, but the material which has been placed on record as noted above clearly reflect that the applicant is claiming compensation for the act of the respondents-2, and 3 much prior to the alleged flash flood.”
During the course of the hearing, 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.
The NGT order stated, “In such circumstances, we (Tribunal)… view that the applicant has suffered environment damage compensation to the tune of Rs 47,14,000 on account of the pollution caused by the contractor during the course of construction of the bridge in Haripur Nallah resulting in death of thousands of traut fishes and destruction of the fish eggs in the ‘Himalayan Trout Fish Farm’. Resultantly, the Original Application (OA) is allowed and respondents including HPPWD and the contractor are jointly and severally held liable to pay environmental damage compensation of Rs 47.14L to the applicant within a period of two months from the date of this order. It will be open to the HPPWD to recover this amount from the private contractor.”
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