Comply With Norms Or Close Site: National Green Tribunal (NGT)

Comply With Norms Or Close Site: National Green Tribunal (NGT)

GUWAHATI: The garbage dumping ground at Boragaon near Deepor Beel on the outskirts of Guwahati is facing a closure threat for not complying with standard garbage disposal norms.

The statutory bodies, including the Pollution Control Board, Assam (PCBA), gave permission for scientific garbage disposal at Boragaon. The dump-and-burn practice of garbage currently being followed at the site is notorious for health hazards.

“They just collect garbage and set them afire, posing a threat to the people nearby. The biodiversity in the area is under threat,” the source said.

Solid waste disposal, according to the source, is a complicated process comprising a series of plants, including a treatment plant and a waste-to-energy plant, complying with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. “However, there is no such plant at Boragaon,” an official said.

It is surprising that scientific disposal of garbage is still to be a reality in Assam. “The State has many cities with population of over one lakh like Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat etc. None of these cities has scientific garbage treatment and disposal facilities. The civic bodies there create health hazards by dumping garbage outside the city areas in an unscientific way. This is not done,” the official said.

Unscientific dumping of garbage continues at Boragaon near Deepor Beel even after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has time and again asked the Assam government to comply with the scientific solid waste management norms. In its affidavit submitted to the NGT on December 18, 2018, the State Government said that it would find out a suitable location for garbage disposal within two months. However, nothing tangible has been done towards that end.

On February 26, 2019, the NGT made it clear that if the State Government did not find an alternative place for garbage disposal in the next meeting of the site selection committee, the garbage disposal plant at Boragaon would be closed, and penalty imposed. NGT also said that the second meeting of the committee should be held within one month and the alternative site finalized. It has asked the State government to file a compliance report before April 29, 2019.

Does Dispur really mean business on scientific garbage disposal?

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