NGT sets up committee on waste collection management in Delhi

The National Green Tribunal has set up a committee chaired by the secretary of Delhi’s urban development department to ensure the dhalao waste collection system in the capital complies with the 2016 Solid Waste Management Rules.

The joint committee will also have members from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the municipal corporations. It has been asked to hold a meeting on the issue within 1 month.

The directive came on Wednesday while the Tribunal was hearing a plea that claimed a garbage pit near Military Road in Karol Bagh was causing inconvenience to residents, as it was situated in the middle of a residential area, and the North corporation was not collecting waste from there.

A report filed by the municipal corporation stated that a third party is hired to collect garbage in the Karol Bagh zone, and that the site mentioned in the plea has now been cleaned.

“Though the site in question is claimed to have been now cleaned, we find from the letter dated March 1, 2021, annexed to the report, that only an advisory has been issued to the waste handler for removing the waste twice and thrice in a day with no accountability for the past failures. The municipal corporation may consider this aspect and also strictly comply with its obligation maintaining continuous vigil in the matter,” the principal bench of the NGT said in an order made public on Thursday.

The bench added, “We find that as per Rule 15 of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, the requirements of storage facility for solid waste is specified. The dhalao system currently in use in Delhi needs to be compliant with the said rules. To ensure this, we direct a joint committee… to hold a joint meeting within one month from today.”

Section 15 of the 2016 Rules mentions the duties and responsibilities of local authorities in terms of waste management. They are required to take a number of steps including preparing a solid waste management plan, door to door collection of segregate waste, setting up secondary storage facilities for sorting recyclable materials, and making decentralised compost or bio-methanation plants near vegetable, meat and fish markets.

“The meeting may be presided over by the Secretary, Urban Development, Delhi. The nodal agency will be CPCB and DPCC for coordination and compliance. Further action may be taken in accordance with the decision taken in the said meeting. If necessary, CPCB may issue an appropriate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the subject applicable in all States/Union Territories,” the bench said.