New Delhi, November 4, 2024: National Green Tribunal (NGT)
The National Green Tribunal has expressed serious concerns over the prevailing problems in the management of solid waste and sewage in both Gujarat and Odisha and demanded improvement on an urgent basis as per established norms in waste management. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava observed that, despite earlier directions and penalties imposed, the waste processing and sewage treatment facilities are still lagging in both states as revealed from their progress reports.
This review forms part of the NGT’s efforts to oversee the compliance of India’s states and Union Territories regarding the orders of the Supreme Court on solid waste management. Both states have submitted reports to the NGT showing what has been done towards the shortcomings identified earlier. The bench found significant gaps in the two states, more particularly in processing capacity and legacy waste remediation.
Background of Waste Management Compliance Issues
A similar order in the past, NGT had levied environmental compensation or EC fines against several states for not being able to meet their targets of waste management. It may be recalled that the amount was as huge as Rs 2,100 crore against Gujarat. The amount would have been kept in a ring-fenced account only with the objective of augmenting the waste management infrastructure. In Odisha, it could have been prevented only when the state government agreed to the allocation of Rs 1,138 crore for upgrading the waste management infrastructure.
Infrastructure in terms of waste management in this case has been poorly adequate in the states of Gujarat and Karnataka. While growth in waste processing capacities remained unable to keep pace with increases in waste generation, tremendous legacies of waste still in existence need treatment.
Gap in solid waste management and legacy wastes in Gujarat:
The bench, comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Kumar Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, observed that Gujarat’s waste processing facilities are not adequately matched with the amount of daily generation of waste in the state. The report submitted said that Gujarat generates approximately 10,317 TPD of solid waste. However, the state is processing only around 8,872 TPD, which leaves a significant gap of 1,445 TPD in waste processing capacity.
Apart from that, Gujarat has legacy problems with waste management. While the state has managed 1.24 lakh MT of legacy waste spread out across seven ULBs requiring remediation, it is still facing this challenge. Legacy is the waste that has been pending for years and has not got proper disposal. It pollutes the soil and groundwater also, causing extreme environmental and health hazards.
The NGT specifically brought to attention these legacy waste issues and asked the state of Gujarat for an action plan in the next reports. It further requested the state of Gujarat to update it on how much each ULB in Gujarat had been allocated towards bridging this gap in solid waste management and to ensure that this ring-fenced amount allocated towards EC was not used otherwise.
Sewage Management Gap in Gujarat
The NGT review also reveals some inadequacies in the state of Gujarat regarding sewage treatment. The current capacity gap of the state in respect of its sewage treatment requirements is close to 531 million liters per day. Adequate treatment of sewage should be there in order that pollution in water bodies are avoided, and public health standards should not be impaired. For instance, major cities or urban agglomerates, in particular, generate such quantities of waste water whose generation poses problems in adequate treatment thereof.
The tribunal was also unhappy that no details had been provided as to how and where these funds were being allocated or utilized in the ring-fenced account. For the future report, NGT asked Gujarat to provide a detailed response on fund allocations and usage across its ULBs, which would reflect adequacy of sewerage and waste management infrastructures.
Odisha Waste and Sewage Management
Similar concerns were reflected in the state progress report of Odisha. The state has a huge gap of 146.9 MLD in its sewage management. In major cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, and Rourkela, it lacks adequate capacity for treating the sewage. According to NGT, STPs built in these urban cities have been underutilized. A strong action needs to be taken to ensure their effective usage and stop untreated sewage from polluting the nearby water bodies.
Legacy waste is another important issue in Odisha. There are around 26.58 lakh metric tonnes of such waste remaining to be remediated in 33 ULBs in the state. The NGT advised that Odisha should hasten remediation and bridge persistent gaps in waste management infrastructure.
Odisha should also have spoken about EC commitment made towards the expenditure of funds reserved, particularly towards the waste management deficiency areas. The NGT bench has found a lack of transparency in the state filing that has brought no clarity on whether such funds have been ring-fenced in an account and has asked Odisha to come clean in its next report.
Next Steps and Future Deadlines
The NGT has set deadlines for Gujarat and Odisha to file their updated reports in light of these non-compliance issues. Gujarat will file its next report by July 22, 2025, and Odisha is required to file its follow-up report by April 28, 2025. The ongoing monitoring by the tribunal underscores the importance of environmental accountability as states are increasingly being forced to adhere to the national waste and water management regulations.
This attempt by NGT towards concrete timelines with more detailed elaboration of money provision is a perfect example of the purpose it serves by giving binding promises to states regarding sustainable solid waste and sewage management systems. Being crucial determinants of both health in towns and environmental sustainability, this kind of tribunal can surely be considered vital in the context of holding states against any agreed-upon norm. Major Issues Identified by NGT:
Lack of Adequate Waste Processing Capacity: Both Gujarat and Odisha lack sufficient capacity for waste processing to accommodate the volume of waste being generated on a daily basis, and hence there exists unprocessed waste and environment degradation.
Legacy Waste: Gujarat and Odisha had large volumes of legacy waste awaiting remediation with no certain date for resolution.
Sewage Treatment Capacity Gaps: Both states reported gaps in sewage treatment capacities, but more in urban areas.
Transparency in the Utilisation of Funds: There is less transparency and clarity as far as the management of environmental compensation fund is concerned and clear guidelines are needed.
Outlook
In both Gujarat and Odisha, intervention by NGT on the issues of waste and sewage reminds the community of the social and environmental significance of waste infrastructure failure. Such directions by the tribunal serve as guidelines that the state is expected to adhere to in redressing waste management shortfalls while transparently allocating funds for this cause and reporting diligently. Therefore, states facing pressures on account of growing urbanization are prompted to step up investments in waste processing and the infrastructure for handling sewage towards becoming contributors towards a clean and sustainable environment.