After fire incident near dumpsite in Ludhiana, NGT issues notice to Punjab Chief Secretary

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 22

Following a media report regarding the recent fire incident wherein seven persons were charred to death in their hut located just near the MC’s dumpsite in Ludhiana and around 20 lakh metric tonnes of waste has accumulated at the dumpsite, the National Green Tribunal took a suo motu cognisance of the matter.

Monitor compliance of orders, panel told

The NGT has also requested the monitoring committee, which was constituted by the Tribunal to monitor compliance of certain orders, to furnish a factual situation with regard to cause of death, persons responsible for failure, remedial action, including measure to prevent such incidents in future.

Fire at dumpsite yet to be doused

A fire broke out at the MC’s garbage dump over a week ago and it is yet to be doused. A fire had broken out at a hut (near the dumpsite) in the wee hours on Wednesday wherein seven persons, including a couple and their five children, were charred to death. The exact cause behind the hut fire was yet to be ascertained.

The NGT has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary while the NGT’s monitoring committee has been asked to file a report within 15 days.

The NGT order reads that in view of the media report, there appears to be failure of the state authorities in remediating the garbage dumpsite, as per mandate under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and right of citizens to clean environment. The Tribunal had earlier passed orders for the compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Not clearing the legacy waste is continuing health hazard, apart from being source of pollution.

The NGT issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Punjab, to explain reasons for such continued failure, to the prejudice of public health and environment and why accountability of the state be not fixed under Section 15 of the NGT Act for such continuing failure in spite of repeated orders of the Tribunal. The Chief Secretary has been asked to file a response with giving a comprehensive plan to handle such situations at all locations where legacy waste is lying unremediated with potential for such incidents and continuing damage to environment and public health and plan for solution with timelines, keeping in mind past directions of the Supreme Court, statutory rules and orders of this Tribunal.

The NGT has also requested the monitoring committee, which was constituted by the Tribunal to monitor compliance of certain orders, to furnish a factual situation with regard to cause of death, persons responsible for failure, remedial action, including measure to prevent such incidents in future.

The NGT directed CPCB to collect information about garbage dumpsites from all states/UTs in respect of at least Metro cities and issue statutory directions/guidelines for preventing such fires and handling them effectively, if they take place, specifying serious consequences of delay in dealing with the issue, in violation of the binding rules.

A fire broke at the MC’s garbage dump over a week ago and it is yet to be doused. A fire had broken out at a hut (near the dumpsite) in the wee hours on Wednesday wherein seven persons, including a couple and their five children, were charred to death. The exact cause behind the hut fire was yet to be ascertained.

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