Failing to clear legacy waste, NGT directs MC Hamirpur to file time-bound plan

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday directed the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation (MC), Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, to file a time-bound programme for clearing the entire legacy waste, and filling up the gap between the generation and treatment of municipal solid waste in Hamirpur.

The directions came in a case related to the disposal of municipal solid waste in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, filed by Rita Sharma. In the last hearing on April 8, Commissioner MC had said that the timeline of June 30 to clear the legacy waste would be adhered to. He had added that after Hamirpur became a Municipal Corporation, an additional area was included therein; therefore, the generation of solid waste had increased.

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However, the deadline of June 30 couldn’t be met.

During the hearing on August 12, counsel for the applicant submitted that there is a legacy waste of around 10,000 MT lying at the legacy waste site.

He added that the daily generation of municipal solid waste in the Municipal Corporation, Hamirpur, is about 17 MT per day, whereas the available treatment capacity is about 7.2 MT. Therefore, there was a considerable gap, besides legacy waste, he pointed out.

Commissioner MC, appearing virtually, submitted that within six months, the entire legacy waste would be cleared. However, the NGT observed that the Commissioner did not “disclose the execution plans to remediate legacy waste and ensuring 100% waste processing for daily waste generation so that no legacy waste is piled up.”

Besides, filing the time-bound plan for clearing legacy waste and filling up the gap between generation and treatment of solid waste, the Tribunal directed the Commissioner to “furnish his undertaking for clearing the entire legacy waste within six months.”

“Let affidavit and undertaking to the above effect be filed by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Hamirpur, within a period of two weeks from today,” said the NGT bench, comprising Chairperson of the Tribunal, Justice Prakash Shrivastava, and Expert Member Dr A Senthil Vel.

The next date of the hearing is October 17.