NGT directs Kejriwal government to ensure garbage is not dumped on roads

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has directed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government and the municipal corporations to ensure that garbage is not dumped on the roads of the capital.

The tribunal’s direction came a day after environment minister Prakash Javadekar made it clear that keeping Delhi clean was the responsibility of the state government. Sanitation workers of cash-strapped East Delhi Municipal Corporation have been dumping garbage on the streets as part of an ongoing agitation for wages.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued a notice to the Kejriwal government, directing it to make certain that there is no garbage on the roads as “it is bound to cause serious health hazards and adverse environmental impacts.”

“We direct the respondents particularly the corporations, namely, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and EDMC to ensure that no garbage or municipal solid waste is thrown on any of the roads of Delhi. The garbage that has already been thrown on intersection of the roads or other roads of the city should be got collected immediately and taken to the MSW identified sites,” the bench said.

The tribunal told the Delhi government and the corporations that it was their “statutory and public law obligation” to provide a clean environment for the residents of Delhi. It restrained any corporation employee or any other person from throwing garbage on the roads.

Some 12,000 sanitation workers in the capital have been on strike since Friday on account of non-payment of salaries for three months by the municipal corporations. As part of the protest, they had dumped garbage at traffic intersections. The three municipal corporations are cash strapped and have sought funds from the Delhi government.