NGT asks Delhi chief secy to hold meeting on landfill sites

Expressing concern over the indiscriminate dumping of waste in the city, the National Green Tribunal today directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi to hold a meeting within a week on the issue of landfill sites in the national capital.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the Chief Secretary to sit with all the municipal corporations and other civic bodies and apprise it about the status of existing landfill sites.
"All corporations should sit together and work it out. Why don't you ask the Chief Secretary to take a meeting and resolve the issue?
"Chief Secretary will take a meeting within a week. Give us complete status about the existing landfill sites and also whether they are working as per Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 or not," the bench said.

The green panel also sought information on the existing waste to energy plants operating in the capital and the upcoming ones as well.
During the hearing, advocates appearing for all the municipal corporations stated that there was a severe paucity of land and they needed more land to handle the waste.

On this the bench said, "You will fall short of space even if you get entire Delhi. Why can't you dump the waste properly? Why don't you compress the waste before you dump it?
When the counsels for the municipal corporations sought directions from the tribunal to specify the time and place of meeting, an exasperate bench said, "We are not going to say anything. Now, you want us to decide even the tea timings for you."

The tribunal was hearing a petition filed by NGO Centre for Wildlife and Environmental Litigation seeking a scientific analysis of all the three landfill sites at Ghazipur in East Delhi, Bhalaswa (North West Delhi) and Okhla (South Delhi).
Advocate Gaurav Bansal, appearing for the NGO, said that all the three landfill sites of the national capital were already "overflowing" and have reached "saturation point".
Advocate Balendu Shekhar, appearing for East Delhi Municipal Corporation, said that the main issue is that new residential areas are being developed by Delhi Development Authority without taking into consideration the waste management plans.