Disposal of the legacy waste (old waste) seems an uphill task for Haryana as the State Government has requested the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for exemption in time limit, stating that due to some reasons, timely disposal of the waste couldn’t take place. The NGT has made it clear several times that breach of norms with regard to Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 and non-compliance is most likely subject to penalty. In this regard, according to a report submitted to the NGO by the state government has been a few days ago, a total of 71.68 Lakh metric tones of legacy waste was lying at several dumping sites in municipalities in Haryana. Out of this 67.74 lakh MT, i.e. 94 percent of the total quantity of the legacy waste is lying at 29 dumping sites in the State which also includes 33 lakh MT legacy waste at Bandhwari, Gurugram which has been dealt with by the NGT in separate case. Out of the aforementioned data, almost 24.81 lakh MT, i.e. 36.67 percent of legacy waste has been processed.
Further, it is pertinent to mention that the State Government has approved an allocation of funds amounting to Rs 262.67 crore and out of this, first instalment of Rs 44.59 crore has been released to the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) department of the State. As mentioned in the report submitted to the NGT, the estimated cost for the management and processing of the legacy is Rs 228 crore. Giving clarification for the delay in the remediation of waste, the State Government said that a string of factors namely corona pandemic and the monsoon emerged as obstacles in the work.
Gurugram occupies stands on the top in terms of the legacy waste with nearly 33 lakh MT, to be followed by the Ambala and Rohtak districts with 6 lakh MT and 5.2 lakh MT respectively. While the districts like Hisar, Bahadurgarh (a part of Jhajjar), Yamuna Nagar failed to get rid of legacy waste so far which is a matter of serious concern.