Supreme Court Slams Delhi Over Poor Solid Waste Management
The Supreme Court has expressed grave concern over the Delhi government’s failure to effectively manage solid waste, highlighting the potential environmental and public safety hazards posed by the untreated waste. Despite generating 11,000 tonnes of waste daily, only 8,000 tonnes are currently processed, leaving a significant amount untreated.
The bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that this sorry state of affairs is posing severe environmental and public safety risks, and warned that if the problem is not resolved promptly, permission for the construction of residential dwelling units may be denied.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, informed the court that efforts are underway to address the issue and suggested seeking responses from municipal bodies and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas.
Senior advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, brought to the court’s attention that the majority of posts in various pollution control bodies across the country are vacant, and urged the court to direct states to fill these vacancies.
According to data presented by Singh, out of a sanctioned strength of 344, there are 233 vacant posts in the Delhi Pollution Control Board, meaning it is currently operating with only 33% of its sanctioned staff. She further informed the court that there are a total of 6,092 vacant posts in various state pollution control boards out of a sanctioned strength of 11,969.
The court has directed the Centre and Delhi government to hold a meeting and develop a proposal for processing the remaining 3,000 tonnes of solid waste generated in Delhi daily. They have been asked to present their plan on May 13th, when the case will be taken up for further hearing.
In a separate briefing to the court, CAQM outlined various measures being taken to combat pollution in Delhi NCR, including promoting public transport and electric vehicles. The commission also highlighted the establishment of 3,100 battery charging stations and 4,793 charging points in the NCT of Delhi, with plans to expand to 18,000 charging points by 2025-26.
According to CAQM, the average daily generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Delhi is around 11,000 tonnes, with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) having established waste processing capacity for about 8,000 tonnes per day. Further capacity augmentation of about 7,000 tonnes per day is underway, which will be sufficient to handle the daily MSW generated in Delhi.
