Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Waste is not being segregated before being sent to the dumpsite of Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, according toa joint committee report in compliance with the National Green Tribunal order August 4, 2023.
The waste was not being segregated at the dumpsite at Wariana, Kapurthala Road, either. Fresh and legacy waste were not being treated as well, the report said.
The joint team visited the landfill on October 5, 2023. The team observed the 16.2 acre dumpsite falls within the municipal corporation limits and has been in use for the past 30 years. At the time of the visit, three trolleys and three dump trucks reached the site, but none of them were covered or compartmentalised, the report said.
Given the increase in daily waste generation and accumulation since 2019, the total legacy waste at the dumpsite could be around 1.5 million tonnes, the report added. The team also found waste was being dumped along the Kala Sanghian drain, located about 400 metres away from the landfill, and polluting it.
Sewage from houses in Srungavruksham village in Palakoderu mandal, West Godavari district is polluting the Adavikodu channel, according to a report filed by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) to the NGT November 9, 2023.
APPCB officials identified some fish and prawn culture ponds on either side of the Tundurru branch of the Adavikodu channel going from Srungavruksham village to Tunduru village. There was no separate drainage system to divert the pond discharge after cultivation, the officials observed. The discharges from fish and prawn ponds were draining into the Tundurru branch of the Adavikodu channel through pipes.
A letter addressed to the panchayat secretary of Srungavruksham village on October 30, 2023 to cover the village under the Swachh Bharat and Open Defecation Free Schemes of the Centre and Andhra Pradesh government was included in the report as a recommendation for remedial measures.
The Panchayat Raj department should be directed to isolate sewage contamination from drinking water sources, it further said. The Rural Water Supply (RWS) under the Panchayat Raj department should provide a safe pipeline network for the withdrawal of drinking water to supply to the public after treatment under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the report added.
Further, the panchayat secretary of the village should take necessary actions, such as stipulating that discharge of sewage into nearby abutting canals should not be allowed while issuing Panchayat permissions for the new construction of houses. The existing sewage discharge pipelines should be routed to septic tanks as a preventive measure, the APPCB officials suggested.
Thota Ganga Raju from Tundurru village, West Godavari district, complained in an application to the NGT about the water pollution of the Adavikodu channel due to discharges of sewage and toilet waste from Srungavruksham Gram Panchayat through irrigation field pipe number 10 and illegal fish / prawn culture water.
The disposal of legacy waste at Kayalpattinam municipality, Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu is expected to be completed by the end of December 2023, according to the municipality’s November 9, 2023 submission to the NGT.
The technical approval for the solid waste disposal for biomining waste in Papparapalli for a total measurement of 22,436 cubic metres of waste was granted at a cost of Rs 160.5 lakh. The chief engineer, directorate of municipal administration, Chennai issued the approval.
The first phase of the work, which was biomining 3,458 cubic metres of waste was completed on December 24, 2022. In the second phase, biomining about 4,166 cubic metres of waste was completed as on April 13, 2023. Biomining of 4,645 cubic metres of waste was completed in the third phase as of October 6, 2023.
At present, the fourth phase of work is being carried out for about 10,167 cubic metres of waste, as measured by Anna University, which is scheduled to be completed within 30 days, subject to climatic conditions.
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