Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Poor solid waste management in Punjab: Monitoring committee report
Solid waste was not being properly segregated in Punjab, with negligible segregation at source, according to site reports submitted by the officers of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).
“The situation was too alarming and miserable,” the report filed by the Monitoring Committee before the National Green Tribunal December 27, 2022.
The committee was constituted by NGT on various environmental issues in Punjab, with respect to compliance of order dated February 8, 2022.
On the request of the officers of the municipal corporations / councils of various local bodies of districts, the timeline to achieve 100 per cent source segregation by municipal councils was extended to December 31, 2022.
Some of the legacy waste dump sites are located on the banks of water bodies, the officers observed during their site visits. At some legacy waste dump sites, animals were found eating solid waste and at some places of legacy waste dump sites, fire incidents were reported.
At some places, solid waste was found dumped underground and concerned municipal corporations (Ludhiana, Batala, Jagraon, Hariana and Ferozepur) were directed to extract this solid waste and remediate it in a time-bound manner.
Construction waste management in Shimla
The waste generated during the construction of a two-lane road tunnel at Dhalli, Shimla dumped by Sai Eternal Foundation at one of the designated dumping sites on private land is at risk of overflowing, according to a joint inspection report submitted before NGT December 29.
The height of the wired crate walls need to be raised to prevent flow of debris, the report stated.
The waste was dumped on “valley side causing damage to the environment and also creating health hazards to local people in the area,” the complaint filed with the NGT said.
An inspection was jointly carried out by the divisional forest officer of the district and regional officer, Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.
The total quantity of muck generated from the construction of the tunnel is approximately 14,923 cubic metres, according to records maintained by Sai Eternal Foundation.
No muck / debris is being generated from the construction site at present, the officers found.
Muck generated has been collected at two designated dumping sites on private land. Further, approximately 755 cubic metres of muck was transported to captive crusher plant of Sai Eternal Foundation at Devidhar village in Shimla district for crushing and reusing.
Waterbody restoration in Gurugram
Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) is committed to restoring the waterbody (johad) in Sector 41, Gurugram, and an estimate of Rs 292.7 lakh for the development of the area is under administrative approval, the report filed by HSVP before NGT December 30 stated.
An application filed before NGT sought restoration of waterbody and greenbelt area surrounding the waterbody as well as “to set aside and declare the notification for e-auction initiated by Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran as illegal”.
In reply, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran said in respect of e-auction notification, the site for the water body in Sector 41, Gurugram is not affected by the re-planning of the already planned commercial area and the waterbody was kept intact.
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