Despite two deaths and an agreement to construct part of NH 24 from the landfill waste, the authorities haven't been able to decide who will bear the cost of waste segregation.
It’s been almost a year that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) signed an agreement to use waste from the Ghazipur landfill to construct part of NH 24, but the two authorities still haven’t decided who will bear the cost of waste segregation. The agreement was signed on November 1, 2016.
After September 1 this year, when two people died when part of the Ghazipur landfill caved in, National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered NHAI to start transporting waste from the site soon. However, the green court today hauled both NHAI and EDMC up for slow process on the matter.
NHAI told NGT that the process to hire private tenders for the purpose was under way. EDMC, on its part, claimed that it was making all possible efforts for waste management in the area.
However, the tribunal slammed NHAI, saying that there was no seriousness on its part. “As part of the technical bid for the tender, you could have asked the bidders to lift the waste, but you didn’t do that, as you wanted to buy time. You could have asked anybody to pick the waste and paid them accordingly, but you didn’t do that either,” NGT said.
The green panel asked EDMC to submit a report on segregation, compaction and bio-remediation of municipal solid waste at the Ghazipur landfill on Wednesday.
NHAI assured the tribunal that the process of floating tenders would start on September 21. The next hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow.
