Archive · 21 Sep 2026
MPCB Proposes ₹2.56 Crore Compensation Over Pavana River Pollution
Four factories in Pune are accused of sending untreated waste into the Pavana River.
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board has proposed that they pay more than ₹2.56 crore.
The proposed amounts are different for each factory.
Two factories were allegedly still breaking pollution rules during inspections in July.
The National Green Tribunal is reviewing the case.
The tribunal will let the factories explain their side before compensation is imposed.
The river also has problems caused by weak sewage and waste-management systems in nearby villages.
A river-cleaning plan has been proposed, but the state says funding is not currently available.
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board proposed over ₹2.56 crore in environmental compensation against four industrial units.
The units allegedly discharged untreated effluent into the Pavana River between 2024 and 2026.
Proposed compensation amounts are ₹1.71 crore, ₹62 lakh, ₹20 lakh and ₹3 lakh.
Inspections in July found that two units allegedly continued violating pollution-control requirements.
The National Green Tribunal is also reviewing sewage, waste-management and funding problems affecting the river.
- Who
- The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, four industrial units, the National Green Tribunal and other government and civic agencies are involved.
- What
- The MPCB proposed more than ₹2.56 crore in environmental damage compensation over alleged untreated effluent discharge into the Pavana River.
- When
- The alleged violations relate to 2024–2026; the NGT directed compensation-period calculations on April 6, 2026.
- Where
- The case concerns the Pavana River and nearby villages in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area.
- Why
- The action concerns alleged industrial pollution and wider sewage and waste-management shortcomings along the river.
- Proposed total compensation
- More than ₹2.56 crore
- Industrial units involved
- Four
- Largest proposed amount
- ₹1.71 crore against one unit
- Other proposed amounts
- ₹62 lakh, ₹20 lakh and ₹3 lakh
- Alleged violation period
- 2024 to 2026
- Villages with sanitation work completed
- 11 of 20 villages, involving kitchen gardens and soak-pit or leach-pit systems
- River classification
- The Pavana was listed among India's polluted river stretches in 2024 and classified as a Priority I polluted stretch by the Central Pollution Control Board