The court directed L-G office to file an affidavit on implementation of Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules in the city within a week.
Miffed with the failure of local authorities in managing the piled garbage in the city and delay in implementing Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules, the Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.
On the basis of status reports of three landfill sites in the city – Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalaswa, the court stated that despite its several order on the issue, no action has been taken by authorities including the office of L-G.
The apex court was informed that nearly two and half dozen meetings were convened on cleaning of landfills in last one and a half years but no one from the L-G office attended meetings. “You (Delhi L-G) say I have power, I am the superman but you don’t do anything,” the court stated.
Meanwhile, the court directed L-G office to file an affidavit on implementation of Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules in the city within a week.
The direction of the court has come after hearing a PIL filed by a resident for seeking its direction to implement SWM rules notified in January this year.
On Wednesday, the court had asked the Centre and the Delhi government, “Under whose jurisdiction does waste management falls and who should be held responsible for piled garbage on roads and mountain of waste at landfills in the city,” the court had stated yesterday.
Observing the condition of Ghazipur landfill earlier in March, the court had stated that days are not far when garbage mounts at Ghazipur landfill site will reach the height of Qutub Minar.
“There is no change in the ground level from 2015 since we started monitoring the case. Another three years will go in vain,” the apex court stated.
Ghazipur landfill site, located in East Delhi, should have been closed 15 years ago. Its height has gone above 50 metres against its permissible limit of 20 metres.
After a huge portion of landfill collapsed resulting in two deaths and injuries to nearly five people, the L-G had immediately put a ban on the dumping of waste at the site. However, a huge amount of waste is being dumped daily at the site.
