Taking strong objections to non-implementation of solid waste management rules, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said “India will go down under the garbage one day”. It said days are not far when garbage mounds at Ghazipur landfill here will match the height of Qutub Minar and a red beacon will have to be used to ward off planes.
“We keep passing orders but solid waste management rules are not implemented. What is the use of passing orders when no one is bothered to implement them? India will go down under the garbage one day,” a Bench of Justices M. B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.
It added, “Garbage mounds at the Ghazipur site will one day touch the height of Qutub Minar and red beacon will have to be used to ward off the aircraft”.
The apex court also asked all States and Union Territories to frame a policy for disposal of solid waste in three months.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, said the court should direct all local bodies in the country to implement the solid waste management rules in three-four months and if they failed to do so they can be held for contempt. He said solid waste management rules are very elaborate and comprehensive and Delhi has already implemented it.
Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni said, “Garbage mounds are like a time bomb, which we are sitting upon and the court should direct the local bodies to implement the rules.”.
The court then directed the secretaries of the Urban Development Ministry in Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur and Meghalaya to appear on the next date of hearing and apprise it about the implementation of rules.
It got annoyed as no counsel was available with information indicating whether these four States have constituted state-level advisory boards in accordance with the provision of the 2016 rules. The Bench posted the matter for further hearing in second week of July.
