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Chandigarh: NGT adjourns compliance in waste management case till Aug 10
The Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), along with other local bodies in the country, was given a deadline of April 4, 2020, to comply with waste management rules, 2016. While Chandigarh is on track on eight steps as prescribed under Rule 22, on solid waste processing and bioremediation/capping of legacy waste, it is still completely off-track
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday adjourned hearing in the solid waste management compliance case till August 10.
The Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), along with other local bodies in the country, was given a deadline of April 4, 2020, to comply with waste management rules, 2016. On February 28, the NGT had ordered, “Compliance with the rules requires taking several steps mentioned in Rule 22 from Serial No 1 to 10. Any such continued failure will result in compensation at the rate of ₹10 lakh a month per local body for a population of 10 lakh and above.”
During the last case hearing on December 14, 2020, the NGT observed that a consolidated monitoring report has to be presented before this tribunal every six months. The first such report was to be filed by June 30. In its hearing scheduled for July 28, this report was to be taken up.
“Most of the statutory timelines have expired and directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and (NGT) to comply with solid waste management Rules, 2016 remain unexecuted in Chandigarh,” said, Vinod Vashisht, convener, CFORWO (City Forum of Residents Welfare Organisations).
The compliance of waste management rules requires taking several steps such as identification, procurement and setting up of sites for solid waste processing, sanitary landfill, ensuring door-to-door waste segregation/collection/transportation, construction and demolition waste management and bioremediation or capping of old and abandoned dump sites.
“While Chandigarh is on track on eight steps as prescribed under Rule 22, on solid waste processing and bioremediation/capping of legacy waste, it is still completely off-track. In a nutshell, the city’s waste chain end-processing is still in a big mess,” said Vashisht
Chandigarh MC has been struggling to process city’s legacy waste of around five lakh metric tonnes (MT). The city generates around 550-600 MT of solid waste daily. But hardly 60-70 MT of it is being processed currently.
