Joint Committee report in respect of Original Application No. 48 of 2020 taken up Suo Motu based on the news item published in Dinamalar newspaper of February 26, 2020 on sewage in Buckingham Canal, Chennai. The NGT in its order of February 28, 2020 directed the constitution of a Joint Committee to inspect the area in question and submit a factual and action taken report.

The Joint Committee report stated that the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has stated that it had formulated a draft policy to regulate the registration of sewer lorries and its operations. As per policy, the registered lorries would be equipped with GPS trackers for monitoring the septage collection in the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) and discharging at the decanting facility thereby controlling the illegal discharge at the waterbodies in the CMA area.

It was submitted that the work of providing additional decanting point at the existing decanting facility of Perungudi Sewage Treatment Plant of CMWSSB has started and the work was in progress. The Joint Committee has recommended that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board should collect water samples periodically in the Buckingham Canal and monitor the water quality, the report said.