New Delhi, April 11 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the District Magistrate of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of 14 people who lost their lives after a newly-constructed cold storage unit collapsed at Mai village last month.
The NGT had initiated suo motu proceedings based on a media report about the incident that took place on March 16, which said the report by the sub-divisional magistrate stated that 14 people died while four others were injured after the sudden fall of the cold storage chamber meant to store potatoes.
The NGT observed that the deaths and injuries occurred because of business activity in the unit, and hence the kin of the deceased and the injured are entitled to compensation.
The NGT bench comprising chairperson Justice A.K. Goel, judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal, and expert member A. Senthil Vel passed the order.
"This Tribunal has dealt with several cases of death and injuries having nexus to hazardous business activities and held the business entities in question to compensate the victims on principle of restitution of Rs 20 lakh for each death and varying scale depending on the extent of injuries," the bench said in its order passed on April 6.
"If such business activity fails to pay, the state has to pay for the failure to ensure safety with liberty to recover from such entities. Citizens are entitled to safety from hazards of business activities having potential for such incidents. The Tribunal has directed for the review of the safety mechanism and also requested the state legal services authorities to provide legal aid in such cases," the order stated.
The NGT bench noted that the SDM's report mentions that compensation of Rs 5 lakh each has been granted to the heirs of the 12 deceased individuals, but there is no mention of the two other individuals who died in the accident. Additionally, the details of the four injured individuals and the payment of compensation to them are not known.
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