NGT directs UP to constitute a separate SWM committee

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had constituted a separate committee to implement the compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules in Uttar Pradesh.

A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “Considering the fact that Uttar Pradesh has a large number of local bodies, it will be appropriate that a separate committee is constituted for the State.”

NGT said that the committees will ensure implementation of plastic waste management, construction and demolition waste and bio-medical waste rules.

The committee will be headed by a former Allahabad High Court judge, Justice Devi Prasad Singh.

The bench had modified its previous order on the compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules.  It clearly stated that the order dated August 20 had been modified to the extent that the scope of the committee constituted earlier for the North Zone will be restricted to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

The bench further said that the order excludes implementation of the rules in Delhi as the matter is being heard by the Supreme Court.

In August 2018, the Bench had constituted Apex and Regional Monitoring Committees to take stock of the progress pertaining to the implementation of the rules.

The bench stated that, “most of the States have not taken into account the incremental growth in the waste generation in future in the cities which are growing exponentially. This will only add to the waste dumps, which have already assumed alarming proportions.”