NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday suggested use of drones to help authorities identify sites where waste is burned in the city.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel expressed concern over a rise in waste burning incidents and noted that as against 5,000 sanitary inspectors, who control burning in the city, only 50 are available.
“What is lacking is implementation. People are burning garbage in the open, we have seen it with our eyes. Holistic solution to the problem has to be found. Use of technology can be invoked and drones can be put to use for preventing garbage burning,” the bench said.
The tribunal also said that that if the corporations were suffering from a manpower crunch, the authorities could employ unemployed youth and civil defence groups by paying them a token amount in lieu of their monitoring services.
It said that the problem of deterioration in air quality is not a creation of just one day, but a result of continuous negligence and apathy in enforcing the law. “The past experience shows the deterioration of air quality in the months of October and November is a recurring phenomenon. It is not difficult to identify the causes and to have advance planned strategies to remedy the same.