Gaps in waste management: Green Tribunal asks Punjab’s chief secy to file six-monthly progress reports
PTC News Desk: The National Green Tribunal has ordered Punjab's chief secretary to submit six-monthly reports on verifiable progress in solid and liquid waste management in the state.
The NGT had previously imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 2,080 crore on the state for its failure to treat and remediate solid and liquid waste, citing gaps in waste management.
The tribunal directed the authorities involved in September last year to deposit the money in a separate ring-fenced account to be used for restoration measures. It had also requested that they submit bi-annual reports.
According to a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, two progress reports dated May 15 and October 20 this year were submitted in accordance with the tribunal's order, but the six-monthly report was not filed.
The bench, which also included judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, stated that the second report was disappointing because 31.46 metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste had not been remediated and there was no treatment capacity for 326.58 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage.
“Thus, it would be necessary to call for information on solid and sewage management in respect of generation and treatment with respect to each city and town with a time-bound action plan to ensure complete processing of solid and sewage management,” the bench added.
It further stated that in November of last year, the chief secretary formed a committee to bridge the gaps in sewage and solid waste management.
The tribunal stated that this did not absolve the chief secretary of his responsibility to comply with the tribunal's order for filing the six-monthly progress reports.
"Hence, further six-monthly progress reports with verifiable progress be filed by the Chief Secretary," it went on to say.
The case has been scheduled for further hearing on May 30.
- With inputs from agencies
