HYDERABAD: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) came down heavily on Telangana government for failing to treat solid and liquid waste in the state. NGT did not mince words as it observed that the state is, "..endangering the environment, adversely affecting public health and posing a serious threat to life", commenting on the fact that of the 10,073 tonnes per day(TPD) of solid waste generated by Telangana, 4,506TPD is dumped untreated in the environment.
NGT reiterated its earlier order that the state will be levied fines of lakhs of Rupees per month, if deadlines set earlier by NGT for various waste management works are not adhered to and also adverse entries will be made in ACRs of concerned government officials. NGT directed state government to stop capping of Jawahar Nagar dump yard, pointing out that it is "not legally and environmentally tenable".
Instead of capping, NGT directed to take up bio-mining and bioremediation. While Telangana government argued that taking up bioremediation and bio-mining is not possible due to huge size of the dump yard, NGT pointed out that three dump yards in Delhi have also been directed to do the same. NGT was hearing a petition on compliance of waste management rules.
It also raised serious concern over Telangana government not even commencing remediation of legacy waste of more than one lakh metric tonnes at 138 out of 140 ULBs in the state, despite date for it being set at November 1, 2019.
Sewage management
As around 1,253 million liters per day (MLD) of untreated sewage enters water bodies in the state, NGT stressed that prompt action needs to be taken to reduce pollution load on recipient river systems in Telangana.
It said that this should be done by way of low capital-intensive natural remediation processes at nearest source of sewage generation as a supplement to Sewage Treatment Plants(STP) and successfully tapping sewage containing storm water drains to channelize the untreated sewage to central STP.
NGT also trashed argument by state government that there is not enough financial assistance from central government to put mechanism in place for treatment of sewage, pointing out that waste management is the responsibility of state government and urban local bodies as upheld by the Supreme Court earlier.