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Judgment
The applicant Association viz., Periappa Nagar Residents Welfare Association has established a residential colony in the year 1993 and admittedly the layout is unapproved. The case of the Applicant's Association is that the Palani Municipality viz., 2nd respondent has been dumping Municipal Solid Waste within 29 meters distance from the colony wherein the members of the Association are living from 1993. By virtue of the indiscriminate dumping of solid waste, it is causing environmental hazards and challenging the said conduct of the 2nd respondent Municipality, the Applicant Association has originally filed Writ Petition in W.P.No.14642 of 2012 on the file of Madurai Bench of the Hon'ble High Court of Madras for a direction against the respondents to strictly comply with the provisions of the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 and also to direct the 2nd respondent to close the landfill site located near Periappa Nagar, Palani. The said Writ Petition was subsequently transferred to this Tribunal and numbered as Application No.44 of 2013.
In our order dated 08.09.2015 and 04.11.2015, we have directed the 2nd respondent to maintain statusquo in respect of establishment of incinerator or raise construction in the landfill/dumping yard site without approval or consent from the Pollution Control Board. By virtue of the said order, the Municipality has stopped further construction.
It is the case of the Municipality that from 1941 onwards, the site is being used for dumping the Municipal Solid Waste. After the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000 have come into existence, the Municipality has decided to establish a Bio Methanation plant in the same yard which is to an extent of 24.5 acres. According to the Municipality, the distance between the actual residential area of the Applicant Association Members and the plant is about 120 meters. It is also further the case of the Municipality that the said residential colony has not obtained approval and it is located in an unapproved layout. This fact is also confirmed by the District Collector in his reply affidavit.
It is the case of the Municipality particularly, that the Municipality is taking effective steps not only for the purpose of capping the leakage of the waste which has been dumped so far in the said area but also taking steps for the purpose of implementing Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It is also stated that action is being taken for the purpose of source segregation of solid waste and collection and sending it to compost yard wherein Bio Methanation plant is being established. Suitable agencies are also being appointed for this purpose and tender process is on. The Commissioner of the Municipality submits that as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 the Municipality has framed bye-laws and the same have been sent to the Government for notification in the Gazette. Immediately after the bye-laws are notified, the same will be implemented as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The State Pollution Control Board in its reply has stated that as per the order of this Tribunal passed in Application No.44 of 2013 dated 28.02.2017 wherein this Tribunal has directed the Board to inspect the premises particularly relating to the siting criteria and also to find out as to whether the members of the applicant's association are living in the approved layout or not and take steps in accordance with law, have collected water samples from borewells which are present in Periyappa Nagar near Municipal Solid Waste Site in the presence of public on 14.03.2017. The analysis of the samples which is as follows shows the Total Coliform and Feacal Coliform levels in the borewell water.
Bore well Samples collected from
S.No.
Parameters
Unit
Pappathi
Manikandan
Guna
Ravi
House
House
sekaran
chandran
House
House
1
Total
MPN/
4
5.5
3.7
3.6
Coliform
100
ml
2
Feacal
MPN/
1.8
1.8
<1.8
<1.8
Colifom
100
ml
However, the Board has stated that Municipal Solid Waste Dumping Site of Palani Municipality was inspected on 17.04.2017 and found that the Municipality has been dumping unsegregated Municipal Solid Waste on the open land, Composting of bio degradable waste has not been started so far, no leachate collection system has been provided and some of the machineries meant for composting were kept inside the dumping yard.
It is further stated that the Municipality has proposed to establish Bio Methanation Plant inside the existing solid waste dumping yard for which 75% of the civil work has been completed and rest of the work is unable to be completed because of the interim order passed by this Tribunal.
It is further stated that the Local Body has already applied for Consent to Establish through online on 01.12.2015 which was returned and the Municipality has resubmitted the application on 09.12.2016 for manufacturing of Compost of 7.5 MT/day from the raw material of Municipal Sold Waste of 45.0 MT/day and also for generation of Electric power - 450 KWH/D from the raw material of segregated organic waste. The Municipality has resubmitted the application on 15.04.2017 and that all the procedures/proposals are being scrutinised by the Board.
As per the Inspection, the Board states that for the setting up of Municipal Solid Waste processing facility at T.S.No.1/2, 1/3, ¼ and 5/2A part,Palani Town, Palani Taluk, Dindigul District the local body has furnished Topo Sketch of the proposed processing facility indicating the distance from the surrounding approved and unapproved layouts.
The reply further states that the applicant Periappa Nagar residents association is an unapproved layout and the distance from members association and the compound wall of the waste processing facility is 29 meters. All other residential areas viz., Iswaraya Nagar is 380 meters, Sakthi Nagar is 430 metrs, Kothaimangalam village is 260 meters, Sathya Nagar Slu is 300 meters, Sirunaicken Tank is 450 meters away from the facility while prescribed minimum distance is 200 meters.
It is also stated that immediately after the facility is completed in accordance with law, the Board will continuously monitor the activities to see that the environmental problems are mitigated. It is also stated that once the solid waste processing facility is commissioned, the daily generation of Municipal Solid Waste of 45 MT will be processed. Meanwhile, the accumulated waste already dumped in the dumping yard will also be processed at the rate of 5 MT/ day.
It is also stated that Consent to Establish granted to the Palani Municipality is located adjoining to the MSW processing facility.
The 2nd respondent Municipality in its Action Taken Report filed today, has also stated about the steps are being taken by the Municipality particularly stating that the distance from the plant to the nearest habitation viz., applicant's residential area is 120 meters.
In view of the above said factual position which has been narrated by us, we are of the view that the Municipality is taking steps for the purpose of implementing the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. However, we make it clear that immediately after the completion of construction, the processing activity shall be started. In the meantime, the Municipality shall adhere to the provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules,2016 particularly strict implementation of source segregation and send bio degradable waste to the place where bio methanation scheme has to be implemented.
In so far as non biodegradable wastes are concerned, all the activities are to be carried out under the supervision of State Pollution Control Board. We also make it clear that the concerned officer of the Board shall be responsible for the purpose of monitoring the entire activities and to see that the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 are effectively implemented by the Municipality.
Considering the fact that the applicant association is situated in an unapproved layout and dumping has been taking place from the year 1941 onwards and the Municipality is taking action to strictly implement the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and already accumulated waste at the dumping site is also proposed to be processed and Board has ensured that the drinking water quality will be maintained, we are of the view that except giving the above direction, no further order is necessary. We also make it clear that in the event of any one of the respondents failing to implement the orders as well as Rules, it is always open to the affected parties to approach this Tribunal for further direction.
With the above direction, the status quo order is vacated and application is disposed. There shall be no order as to cost.