Subscribe
The chief secretary of West Bengal was directed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on July 2, 2025 to file a personal affidavit along with an action-taken report within four weeks regarding the removal of illegal khatals (cattle sheds) from Dankuni Municipality.
The application, filed by non-profit organisation Tarakeswar Green Mates, stated that the DVC Canal — also known as Dankuni Canal — in Hooghly district, West Bengal, which is directly connected to the River Ganga, has been completely blocked due to the regular discharge of cow dung from numerous cattle sheds in the area. As a result, the canal has effectively lost its natural character and now contains little to no flowing water. It was also alleged that these cow sheds are operating without authorisation.
The NGT had earlier, on September 11, 2023, issued directions for the removal of illegal khatals.
On July 2, 2025, the NGT noted that, according to the affidavit submitted by the district magistrate and collector of Hooghly, the Dankuni Municipality had passed an order on September 2, 2024 instructing all illegal khatal owners to shut down operations and dismantle their structures. Failing compliance, the Municipality stated it would proceed with demolition using the assistance of the district administration.
However, despite repeated communications to the commissioner of police, Chandannagar Commissionerate, requesting support for enforcement, the commissioner has not extended assistance, NGT was told. This lack of cooperation is obstructing the implementation of orders passed by the NGT, the Supreme Court and the district magistrate.
NGT on July 2, 2025 expressed displeasure with the Howrah Municipal Corporation for failing to comply with its earlier order dated March 27, 2025. That order required submission of an action-taken report addressing the ongoing and unchecked dumping of waste near the Lichu Bagan Police Quarters in Howrah, West Bengal.
The Howrah Municipal Corporation was again directed to ensure daily cleanliness in the area and to strictly implement the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The complaint, submitted before the eastern bench of the NGT, stated that a large strip of vacant government land located between private buildings near the applicant’s residence and the police quarters had been used as an informal dumping ground by residents for several years. It further alleged that the night soil pits and sewage chambers of the police quarters are damaged, with waste overflowing into municipal drains.
The compost yard of Avadi Municipal Corporation at Sekkadu in Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu functions as a landfill for both wet and dry waste. Of the 180 metric tonnes (MT) of waste generated daily within the Avadi Corporation limits, 60 MT of wet organic waste is currently processed at 15 micro composting centres (MCC), the civic body told NGT in a report on July 2, 2025.
Additionally, eight new MCCs are under construction at an estimated cost of Rs 460 lakh under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 scheme. Once completed, they will provide an additional processing capacity of 32 MT of wet waste per day.
A portion of the compound wall at the Sekkadu dumpsite has been completed. A proposal for constructing the remaining section has been prepared, with an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore. Sanction for the same is expected shortly, after which construction will commence, the report stated.
The applicant, Raja Mani, filed the petition seeking directions to restrain the Avadi Municipal Corporation from burning garbage at the dumpsite, to construct the compound wall and to dispose of solid waste strictly in accordance with the applicable rules.
The NGT had directed the Avadi City Municipal Corporation to file a report on the quantification of legacy waste and the feasibility of bio-mining, once the detailed project report is finalised.
Following a site inspection by the Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, it was reported that 90 per cent of the cleared area is now filled with fresh waste, making further bio-mining work infeasible at the Sekkadu dumpsite.
Micro composting centres were constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 in Chozhambedu and Sekkadu villages in line with an NGT order dated April 15, 2025. A semi-automatic material recovery facility with a capacity of 50 tonnes per day has also become operational.
Installation of 102.36 kilometres of water distribution pipelines to serve 17,000 households in the Avadi Corporation area is currently underway, the corporation stated. A detailed project report for the remaining areas is being prepared by the Tamil Nadu Water Investment Corporation. Once completed, the entire town is expected to be covered by an underground sewerage system within three years.