Aafrin Kidwai 
The National Green Tribunal has said adequate steps were not being taken against unregulated dumping of solid waste on the flood plains of the Yamuna in the temple town of Vrindavan.
The green panel noted that a report filed by the Urban Development Department, Uttar Pradesh, mentions that action has been taken against a Sanitary Inspector, Executive Officer and Chairman of Urban Local Body. “Such action can be hardly be held to be enough in the face of serious continued violation of rules for compliance of which statutory liability is also of higher authorities,” said a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel.
Noting the recommendations of an oversight committee headed by a former high court judge, the tribunal said the failure to take the appropriate action will result in levy if fine.
“It is clear that the steps taken so far are not adequate. The committee has found that arrangement for leachate collection has not been made, leachate drain was found choked, processing capacity is just enough to cater to the day to day processing and is unable to tackle the legacy waste,” the bench said.
It said the recommendations of the committee that bio-waste remediation must start, failing which compensation will be liable to be paid, the establishment of the proper functioning of decentralized plants, organic waste to compost plants, material recovery plants, use of bio-degradable cutlery are appropriate and need to be accepted and followed by the State authorities.
“Failure will lead to action against the State for payment of compensation for damage to the environment and public health as suggested by the Committee,” the bench said.
It said the committee may continue to monitor the compliance of directions for scientific waste management and furnish a further status report.
The directions came while hearing of a plea by seer Madhumangal Shukla who had approached NGT against “illegal” and “unregulated” disposal of solid waste in the city.
Shukla had alleged that the entire environment of Vrindavan was suffering due to the lack of implementation of Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 as garbage was being disposed of carelessly in drains and on the banks of river Yamuna, leading to clogging and stagnation.
The plea claimed that the only landfill site in the city has been sold to Mathura Mandi Samiti for setting up of a wholesale market, resulting in reckless accumulation of garbage on the streets, reports news agency PTI.
Picture Credit: User: (WT-shared) Jpatokal at wts wikivoyage, KesiGhat River, CC BY-SA 4.0
