The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday, in response to an affidavit filed by the Chandigarh administration that highlighted that the city was not being able to process around 370 tonnes of garbage per day (TPD), stated that the UT must immediately look into trying to fix the shortfall. The green court is hearing a case pertaining to compliance of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, in Chandigarh. An affidavit had been filed by the Chandigarh administration before the NGT late last year in which it was stated that around 370 tonnes, of the 588 tonnes, of waste being generated daily on an average was not being processed in the city. Almost all of 370 tonnes of waste not being processed in the city was wet waste, the court was told. On Thursday, the NGT stated that “the approach towards waste management should be sustainable” and waste management is not just today’s problem but tomorrow’s issue as well. The NGT bench, headed by Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, then directed the Chandigarh administration to address the issues immediately so that the city was able to process all the waste that it generated." In the affidavit submitted before the National Green Tribunal, the UT had stated that the shortfall in waste processing in the city was despite the administration having taken all possible measures. The bench, after hearing UT's submission, stated that Chandigarh was a planned city and also had sufficient funds to address its issues. The bench then stated that the UT must ensure that segregation is done at the household level, and the problems regarding the shortfall be fixed immediately. A senior officer of the Chandigarh administration said, “ The basic observation of the bench was that waste managament has to be a sustainable approach. It also suggested that instead of taking the entire wet waste to the sanitary landfill, which is a dumping site, the authorities can look towards decentralizing it. Like composting at the level of sectors or belts or wards. IThe green court was of the opinion that only inert material that remained after processing was supposed to be taken to the dumping site.” The bench also touched on the issued of sewerage treatment plant (STP)s, after the UT informed it that of the eight STPs, five were already complying with norms and upgradation of the other three was currently under process. “The NGT also observed that that the waste water being generated from toilets and washrooms, instead of being taken to the STPs, can be dumped in a pond, where it can be taken and then further purified to be used for irrigation and other purposes,” the official added. He stated that the green court also appreciated measures Chandigarh was taking in a bid to address the serious solid waste management issues. Wet waste plant, integrated solid waste management plant vetoed by civic body The General House of the Chandigarh civic body had during a recent meeting turned down the agenda of setting up of an integrated solid waste management plant as well as that of a temporary compost plant to address the unprocessed wet waste of the city. While turning down the proposal of setting up a integrated solid waste management plant at Dadumajra, the councillors had stated that unless such a time that the administration decides to include the UT Mayor or any other public representative in the high powered committee that has been constituted in the issue, they will not give their nod to the agenda. The high powered committee comprises UT Adviser, secretary of the local government, the finance secretary, the director of environment, the commissioner of the civic body, the chief engineer of the civic body, the superintending engineer of the civic body , the municipal officer of health, representative of NEERI and representative of IIT-Ropar.
