Telangana Fined ₹3,800 Crores for Failing to Treat Solid and Liquid Waste; Amount to Be Used for Remedial Measures

"The total compensation comes to ₹3825 crores, or say (rounded off as) ₹3,800 crores, which may be deposited by the State of Telangana in a separate ring-fenced account within two months, to be operated as per directions of the Chief Secretary and utilised for restoration measures," said the recent order passed by the bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel.

The green court was dealing with the issue of solid and liquid waste management as per the orders of a 2014 Supreme Court ruling.

The tribunal also directed the Telangana government to devise an operative mechanism by which service providers with due diligence processes can execute work relating to solid and sewage management simultaneously throughout the state — all districts, cities and towns.

Considering the environmental compensation imposed for restoration dovetailed with the state budget and availability of confirmed sites, there should not be any difficulty in execution without delay, it added.

"The Chief Secretary may consider designating a Senior Nodal Officer at the rank of ACS to regularly assess the progress in bridging the gaps in Sewage and solid waste management and establishing stock taking at the District levels. Existing and upcoming STPs need to have linkages with industries and other bulk users, including Agriculture/horticulture, for using treated sewage. Legacy waste sites need to be remediated and reclaimed areas utilized for setting up of waste processing plants so as to process day-to-day waste generation," the order read.

The restoration measures to sewage management would include: setting up sewage treatment and utilisation systems, upgrading systems/operations of existing sewage treatment facilities to ensure utilization of their full capacities, ensuring compliance with standards, including those of faecal coliform and setting up proper faecal sewage and sludge management in rural areas, the tribunal said.

With regard to solid waste management, the execution plan would include setting up of required waste processing plants and remediation of left-out sites. Bio-remediation/bio-mining processes need to be executed as per CPCB guidelines, and the stabilised organic waste from biomining as well as from compost plants needs to comply with the laid down specifications.

Further, the tribunal asked the Chief Secretary to file six monthly progress reports with verifiable progress on the issue.

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The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.