Local bodies face flak for poor waste management

Responsibility passed on to citizens, says NGT

The National Green Tribunal has pulled up the authorities in Ernakulam responsible for the proper collection and disposal of biodegradable and non biodegradable waste while stating that there is none to monitor compliance under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The Southern Bench of the tribunal, comprising Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Satyapal Korlapati, stated that the erring local bodies had failed to achieve 100% compliance. The court flayed the lack of concrete action by the government and the district administration on its order dated December 7 in the case related to the non-compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in the State.

Most of the municipalities were not carrying out door-to-door collection on a daily basis of both biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable waste as required under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Some of the local bodies had shirked the responsibility of collecting this by passing resolutions directing the residents themselves to dispose of the biodegradable waste by undertaking some in situ management. Nobody was there to monitor whether was being done properly or not, it said.