The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has slammed the Kerala government for its “indifference and insensitivity” to the issue of disposal of waste and directed it to prepare an action plan for dealing with garbage within a month.
The tribunal made it clear that if the stakeholders failed to submit the action plan within the period stipulated, appropriate stringent and punitive action would be taken against the heads of the State departments, municipal Corporation, municipal council and grama panchayats.
A Bench of Justice S.P. Wangdi and expert member Nagin Nanda said the records reveal the reluctance and lackadaisical manner in which the State government and municipal Corporations had been responding to the various directions issued in the matter.
Form action plan
The tribunal directed the State government to prepare a comprehensive action plan in consultation with all local bodies with special focus on the major waste generating areas within one month.
“The action plan shall take into consideration the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, Bio-Medical Rules, 2016, and Schedule-I to IV of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 with specific focus on connecting all domestic and industrial liquid waste to common sewage treatment plants (STPs),” the Bench said.
The tribunal’s direction came while hearing a case seeking direction to take effective steps for infrastructure development for collection, storage, segregation and disposal of municipal solid waste in the State. The matter had come to the NGT from the Kerala High Court in 2013.
