Managing Delhi’s waste may well begin from home. Finding the Centre and civic agencies not serious to tackle the piling garbage in the city, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Delhi’s municipal agencies whether there was a plan to segregate waste at the household level so that all the garbage does not travel to the landfill.
While wet waste can go for composting, the dry waste could be recycled, leaving only the hazardous waste and construction debris to be dumped at the landfill sites, possibly to be used for generating power, observed the bench. The civic agencies informed the Court that a pilot project to segregate waste has begun at four locations in South Delhi — Green Park, lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, and Maharani Bagh.
The bench of Justices Madan B lokur and Deepak Gupta set a deadline of August 14 for the municipal bodies to provide details of the said pilot scheme, feedback on its efficiency, reasons for its non-efficiency, proposals for its improvement, and possibility of spreading an awareness campaign on segregation of waste across residential colonies.
Meanwhile, responding to the concerns expressed by the bench on the rising levels of garbage at the landfill sites, the Centre through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand informed the Court that a new plant to convert waste to power is proposed to be set up by December 2019. The bench said that Delhi was facing an “emergency” situation that required urgent solutions.
The Court commented that the Centre and civic agencies are oblivious to the health concerns posed by the garbage dumps to the residents staying around it. When the ASG said that all such concerns cannot be addressed, the bench wondered if the landfill could come up outside l-G house at Raj Niwas Marg. The bench pointed out that the health of not-so-affluent-areas of the city was equally vital.
An application moved by an intervenor represented by advocate Ritwik Dutta pointed out that two landfills proposed at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujjran are on the Yamuna flooplan and cannot be granted permission. The bench posted the application to be dealt with on August 17, the next date of hearing.