Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
A total of 18,500 tonnes of waste were lying in Sui Jakhar village, Udhampur district in Jammu & Kashmir, municipal council for Udhampur told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on March 9, 2024. Out of this waste, 16,500 tonnes of legacy waste have been scientifically disposed of through biomining by the municipal council at an approximate cost of Rs 10,585,666.
The remaining 2,000 tonnes of legacy waste still lie at Sui Jakhar, the NGT was told. The waste is unprocessed to date due to an overhead transmission line of 11 kilovolt-amperes, or kVA, which is a matter of serious safety concern.
Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd, Udhampur has now taken up the matter of shutting down the powerline, the municipal council report said. Within the next three months, the remaining waste at the legacy site will be transferred to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Site at Tan, Talab Katra, for scientific remediation through biomining.
The legacy waste site at Sui Jakhar, from which the waste was processed, has been remediated, and a green enclosure has been built. The Municipal Council of Udhampur’s current waste generation is approximately 40 tonnes per day, with wet waste accounting for 50 per cent of the total, the NGT was told.
The municipal council has begun door-to-door waste collection from both residential and commercial areas through an outsourced agency beginning in September 2023, as well as information, education and communication for waste segregation at the source. It has also engaged four heavy construction vehicles, four tractor trolleys and 40 people, the report said.
Silt and boulders were removed from Devika river and a 2 kilometre stretch has been cleared of solid waste, silt and boulders. The remaining stretch of 4 km would be cleared, preferably within three months, with the same manpower and machinery. Moreover, iron mesh was also installed at vulnerable spots and convergence points at Devika river to prevent waste from flowing into it, the report added.
The demarcation of Teliya talab, Mandsaur district, Madhya Pradesh has been done in consonance of Mandsaur Draft Plan 2035, Water Level According to Drone Survey dated August 28, 2021, the NGT was told by MP government on March 5, 2024. The tribunal was hearing an application alleging the lake had been encroached upon.
“During the course of the demarcation process, the delineated talab boundary with red lines, as indicated in the attached map accompanying the relevant order, was precisely marked on the revenue map. Subsequently, onsite demarcation activities were initiated utilising existing permanent markers; the demarcation of Telia talab’s land was initiated with a Global Navigation Satellite System rover, ensuring alignment with the permanent markers,” stated the compliance report.
Additionally, the precise boundary of Telia talab was demarcated by examining data from National Remote Sensing Centre satellite and comparing it with the Mandsaur Draft Plan 2035, the report added. A drone survey conducted on July 28, 2021 was also used to assess the lake’s water levels. The outer boundaries of Telia talab are clearly marked on the revenue map, the MP government told the NGT.
The application claimed Teliya talab had been encroached upon using a forged and fictitious map. A February 24, 2024 order by the NGT directed a team of 28 members to carry out the demarcation of the lake.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) filed its report on the compliance of various provisions of the Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 by states and Union territories.
The CPCB report recommended that state pollution control boards (SPCB) and pollution control committees (PCC) should ensure authorisation for all bedded and non-bedded health care facilities like clinics, laboratories, research institutes and veterinary hospitals in a time-bound manner.
All SPCBs and PCCs should conduct gap analysis as per CPCB guidelines and ensure the availability of an adequate number of common bio-medical waste treatment facilities to cover all districts of the state and UTs in a time-bound manner, it said.
In addition, SPCBs and PCCs should restrict the use of captive treatment facilities and deep burial pits, the CPCB added. Use of captive treatment facilities and deep burial pits should be permitted only if necessary and should be constructed as per standards given under Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, it recommended.
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