Big relief for 50,000 residents: HC comes to rescue of Dadumajra, seeks action taken report

On Thursday, the matter was heard by the division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli. The HC is hearing two separate PILs in this matter that have been filed against the UT Administration and Chandigarh municipality by city residents Amit Sharma in person and Dipti Singh, through counsel Ranjan Lakhanpal.

During the proceedings on Thursday, the petitioner, Amit Sharma argued that for the last six years, the concerned authorities have not been acting on the issue, and have just been reviving the existing waste processing plant, even though the civic body and the UT Administration had been told by experts that the plant did not have the capacity to tackle the waste being generated by Chandigarh city. Experts have also stated that waste segregation was not the solution for Chandigarh’s garbage problems.

The court, on not getting a satisfactory response from UT, over the queries of petitioner, thus verbally asked the officials of UT Administration and civic to file an action taken report.

Amit Sharma, a city resident, had filed the PIL before the HC, seeking directions to the municipal corporation and other authorities of Chandigarh to ensure an end to the air pollution suffered by the people of Dadumajra and surrounding areas.

Sharma had claimed before the HC gross violation of fundamental rights of over 50,000 citizens living in the vicinity of the Dadumajra garbage dump, and contended, “There is an imminent threat to the health and lives of the citizens living in Dadumajra, Dhanas and the adjoining areas because of the violation of laws/rules/norms by the medical officer- health, municipal corporation, and the Chandigarh Administration.”

Sharma had also pointed out that Dadumajra/Dhanas had 107 per cent more cases of pneumonia in 2020 as compared to all other colonies in Chandigarh.

“A study shared by GMCH-32 in an RTI suggests that people with lung diseases/respiratory issues are more susceptible to severe Covid-19 (research in progress). The wretched quality of air and life in the area is further aggravated by the frequent toxic fires in the mountain of garbage that is only getting higher by the day. With the civic body being able to process a mere 13.36 per cent of the waste dumped here last year, and only 16.09 per cent waste from January to May in 2021, the problem of unprocessed garbage is threatening to swamp the Dadumajra area. It is also leading to increased incidents of fire in the dump, that authorities are neither able to prevent nor explain. The fire in March this year lasted a week and covered the entire city in a haze, hindering visibility and causing respiratory issues among people in the vicinity.”

Among other things, Sharma had also contended that the authorities should be made to follow the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, to reduce the quantum of garbage dumped at Dadumajra. He also further sought a probe into the civic body’s failure to follow the directions given by NGT on waste management and processing, and also why environmental laws are flouted, and what is the outcome of the crores of taxpayer’s money spent on study tours for waste management.