NGT orders HPPWD, pvt contractor to pay Rs 47.14L compensation for trout fish farm damage during bridge construction in Kullu | Chandigarh News
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 …
