New Delhi: Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has taken action against 16 restaurants for either not installing oil grease traps in the washing area or failing to install effluent treatment plants (ETPs).

According to DPCC officials, their teams inspected 22 restaurants from February 1 to 15 and of these, 16 were found to be violating anti-pollution norms. “We have served show-cause notices to 15 restaurants for flouting anti-pollution norms. We have also served a closure notice to one restaurant for failing to comply with the norms. An environmental compensation of over Rs 9.8 lakh has been proposed on 15 defaulting units and of these, penalty of Rs 2 lakh has been imposed,” said a senior official.

Officials said most of the units against which action has been taken mainly lacked proper installation of ETPs and oil grease traps. A few of the defaulting restaurants also failed to maintain ETP logbook properly and did not comply with rules of waste segregation. Some restaurants failed to produce valid consent, which should have been applied for renewal at least three months prior to the date of expiry.

“Of these 15 restaurants, some of them were found to be using charcoal ovens. If any eatery is using tandoor, it should use cleaner fuels like LPG and PNG,” said an official.

Earlier in January, 24 restaurants were found to be violating anti-pollution norms in the capital.