Punjab Chief Secy under fire for poor waste disposal, gets month to come up with solution

“Since Chief Secretary has also failed in compliance of Tribunal order dated 22.09.2022 with regard to creation of ring-fence account of Rs 2,080 crore, this is clear that the order of this Tribunal has been defied and disobeyed, which is also an offence under Section 26 of NGT Act, 2010,” the order stated.

“Besides, continuous violation and non-compliance and breach of mandate of Section 24 of Water Act, 1974, is also an offence under Section 43 of said Act and when offence is by Government Department, Section 48 is also attracted, which declares that Head of the Department shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be prosecuted against and punished,” the order added.

The tribunal has sent showcause notices to Chief Secretary Anurag Verma and Tejveer Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development). The duo has been asked to submit their response within a month. The case will come up for the next hearing on September 27.

After the tribunal order, Chief Secretary Verma held a meeting with deputy commissioners on Wednesday. A source said Verma came down heavily on the deputy commissioners and gave them targets for completing solid waste management and sewage treatment plants.

“He told us that this cannot go on forever. This work has to be completed. We are dealing with the legacy solid waste and sewage. It cannot be a matter of days. When the legacy waste has been generated for so many years, we cannot handle it in a day. It will require time,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.

Another government official said, “We will now hold meetings. We will talk to the finance department about the fine. Also, the state can appeal against the order.”

The state is already facing a funds crunch.

The issue dates back to September 2, 2014, when the Supreme Court transferred the proceedings of the Almitra H Patel vs Union of India case to the tribunal. The tribunal, after noticing that SWM Rules 2016 had been notified on April 8, 2016, disposed of the matter on December 12 in 2016 with several directions.

The matters of solid waste and liquid waste were both disposed of with a direction that further monitoring be continued at the level of chief secretaries and the Central Monitoring Committee headed by the secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

As the things did not improve, then chief secretary V K Janjua had to appear before tribunal on July 25, 2022.

The order said that as the chief secretary did not submit any response, the tribunal could not take note of the status of the compliance of the CPCB directions. It added that after a monitoring committee report in 2022, the tribunal had observed that there was a large-scale failure and violation on the part of the state.

The matter related to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation was specifically referred by the monitoring committee. Out of 1100 TPD, wet and dry waste generated, only 49 per cent was being treated. Similar violations were noted in other municipal councils in various districts.

Legacy solid waste

The tribunal said it was taking a very lenient view in the matter since the compensation would have to be paid from the public exchequer. If compensation on existing legacy waste—53.87 lakh MT—is computed at the rate of one paisa per kilogram per day for past six months, it will be:

5387000000 kg×Rs 0.01×180=Rs 9696600000

Untreated sewage

The NGT expressed its disbelief that there was an untreated sewage figure of 314.06 MLD. Even if it is 314.06 million litres per day, which is the admitted gap as in June, 2024, and compute it for the last six months at the rate of one paisa per litre per day, the compensation for 180 days will be:

314060000 litres×Rs0.01×180 days=Rs 565308000

The total environmental compensation towards legacy waste and untreated sewage will thus come to Rs 1,026,19,08,000.