The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday summoned the joint secretary (Swachh Bharat) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to explain the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The joint secretary has been asked to appear before the tribunal on Tuesday. A bench, headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore, directed the official to explain the compliance of its order on the issue.
The tribunal has also appointed three committees to monitor disposal of garbage in an eco-friendly manner across the country as it warned that failure to ensure proper management of solid waste will have disastrous consequences.
The three committees - apex monitoring committee, regional monitoring committees and state-level committees will oversee the steps to be taken to give effect to the directions of this tribunal, including proper implementation of the rules.
Most of the states have no plans to deal with solid wastes in rural areas and hilly terrains effectively, the NGT observed.
Many rural centres are rapidly turning into urban conglomerates and if their solid wastes are not managed urgently we would be inviting several diseases with disastrous consequences, it said.
The apex monitoring committee will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice D K Jain and also comprise chairman, Central Pollution Control Board, joint secretary of Ministry of the Environment and Forests and joint secretary and mission director of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
There will also be state-level committees headed by secretary of the Urban Development Department with Secretary of the Environment Department as members, the tribunal had said.
"The representatives from the Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Boards would assist the state-level committees. The state-level committees may have interactions with the local bodies preferably once in two weeks. The local bodies may furnish report to the state committees twice a month," it said.
The municipal solid waste (MSW) management is one of the most serious challenges to environment protection.
The implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules remains a challenge, despite it being framed in 2016, the tribunal had said.
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