Piling of garbage:NGT directs Delhi chief secy to hold meeting

At a time when dengue crisis is looming large in the capital, the National Green Tribunal has directed Delhi government to conduct a meeting of top municipality officials to look into the issue of heaps of garbage lying unattended here.
"Various diseases in Delhi are rapidly growing and greater are the environmental obligation on the part of corporation to provide decent, clean environment and better public health which is a constitutional mandate of our Constitution.
"There is no reason coming forward, much less plausible explanation for this menace. It appears to be a complete negligence on the part of the concerned Officers of the Corporation. It is not failure of duties simplicitor but has a direct effect upon the environment and health," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The green panel directed the Delhi Chief Secretary to conduct a high-level meeting with all the Commissioners of the municipal corporations in Delhi and prepare a report on the reasons leading to the indiscriminate dumping of waste on roads and other places in Delhi.
"The Chief Secretary of Delhi would also require the concerned authorities of the state of Uttar Pradesh to participate in the meeting, as one of the contentions raised is that in the area adjacent to UP Border, the waste of Uttar Pradesh is also dumped," the bench said.
The Tribunal also made it clear that a comprehensive plan for collection, transportation and disposal of municipal solid waste in accordance with Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 shall be considered in the meeting.

It also asked the corporations to install GPS system in their vehicles which are used for collection of garbage.
"There will be due checks and balances specified to ensure that there is proper carriage of municipal solid waste to the dumping sites/plants where it is expected to dispose of the same in accordance with the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000," it said.
Irked at non-compliance of its order on burning of waste, the NGT had imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) for indiscriminate dumping and burning of municipal solid waste in the area.