Pollution control board replies to NGT on Mohali garbage mess

The Punjab Pollution Control Board has filed its reply after the National Green Tribunal’s Principal Bench took suo motu notice of garbage mess and residents’ protest outside Shahimajra Resource Management Centre in Mohali on August 10. In an affidavit, PPCB Environmental Engineer Navtesh Singh informed the NGT that the board will take appropriate action against the Mohali Municipal Corporation in accordance with law if any violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules is found.

The issue of foul odour and safety hazards caused by continuous dumping of garbage in Mohali was highlighted In a new report ‘Mohali residents lock waste centre’ that appeared in these columns on August 11. Residents of Phases 10 and 11 had staged a protest outside the Shahimajra Resource Management Centre and locked the gates of the garbage processing facility, as the Municipal Corporation had failed to resolve the issues faced by them.

The Tribunal passed an order on August 21 impleading the Municipal Corporation, Punjab Pollution Control Board and Mohali Deputy Commissioner as respondents in the case and called for a response.

The PPCB, in compliance to the order, stated that, “The site in question at Shahimajra was visited by the Assistant Environmental Engineer of the Board on October 27 and it was observed that the site is being used by Municipal Corporation as Resource Management Centre (RMC), where the garbage is collected, segregated and further transported to the waste processing site at Jagatpura. The site at Shahimajra was found to be empty when the officer visited it.”

The officials of Municipal Corporation said the RMC had been cleared of the waste and was under renovation and there was no problem of waste accumulation at present, the PPCB said. The MC officials ensured that in future there shall be no such problem at the RMC.

The visiting officer has also sensitised the officials of the Mohali MC to comply with the Solid Waste Management Rules.

The PPCB, officials also met the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Mohali, personally on November 10, who assured of the compliance of Solid Waste Management Rules and to manage the Shahimajra RMC in an efficient manner.