National Green Tribunal
News Item Titled "Jabalpur Kathaunda ... vs . on 26 September, 2024
Item Nos. 17to19 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
Original Application No. 606/2018
(IA No. 163/2021 & IA No. 299/2024)
(In respect of State of Madhya Pradesh)
Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and other
environmental issues.
With
Original Application No. 625/2024
News Item titled "Jabalpur: नालो को प ा करने म पौने चार सौ करोड़ खच और वक
अभी भी अधूरा" appearing in Dainik Bhaskar dated 20.05.2024
With
Original Application No. 819/2024
News Item titled "Jabalpur Kathaunda plant म कचरा जलने के बाद दू र दू र तक
फ़ैल रहे धु ल के कण" appearing in Bhaskarhindi.com dated 01.07.2024
Date of hearing: 26.09.2024
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Respondents: Ms. Veera Rana, Chief Secretary (Through VC),
Mr. Neeraj Mandloi, Principal Secretary, UADD,
Mr. Gulshan Bamra, Principal Secretary, Environment Deptt.(Through
VC),
Mr. Bharat Yadav, Commissioner, UADD (Through VC),
Mr. Akshaya Temrawal, Addl. Commissioner, UADD,
Ms. Preeti Yadav, MC, Jabalpur,
Mr. Anand, MC, Gwalior,
Mr. Satendra Singh Dhakra, MC, Morena,
Mr. Himansh Bholtt, MC, Ratlam,
Mr. Dinesh Jain, Addl. Secretary (P&RD)
Mr. Pradeep S. Mishra, Engineer in Chief, UADD
Ms. Rukhmini Bobde, Mr. Jatin Dhamija, Mr. Amlaan Kumar & Mr.
Vinayak Aren, Advs. for the State of Madhya Pradesh
Mr. Raghav Sharma & Mr. Alok Jain, Advs. for MP PCB
Mr. Raj Kumar, Adv. for CPCB
ORDER
1. In this original application, Tribunal is considering the issue of solid as well as liquid waste management as per orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 02.09.2014 in Writ Petition No. 888/1996, Almitra H. Patel vs. 1 Union of India & Ors., with regard to solid waste management and order dated 22.02.2017 in W.P. No. 375/2012, reported in (2017) 5 SCC 326, Paryavaran Suraksha vs. Union of India, with regard to liquid waste management (sewage).
2. Today, matter has been taken up in respect of compliance by State of Madhya Pradesh.
3. We have heard Ms. Veera Rana, Chief Secretary, Mr. Gulshan Bamra, Principal Secretary, Environment Deptt., Mr. Bharat Yadav, Commissioner, UADD appeared virtually and Mr. Neeraj Mandloi, Principal Secretary, UADD, Mr. Akshaya Temrawal, Addl. Commissioner, UADD, Ms. Preeti Yadav, MC, Jabalpur, Mr. Anand, MC, Gwalior, Mr. Satendra Singh Dhakra, MC, Morena, Mr. Himansh Bholtt, MC, Ratlam, Mr. Dinesh Jain, Addl. Secretary (P&RD), Mr. Pradeep S. Mishra, Engineer in Chief, UADD and Ms. Rukhmini Bobde, Mr. Jatin Dhamija, Mr. Amlaan Kumar & Mr. Vinayak Aren, Advocates for State of Madhya Pradesh. We have also heard learned Counsel for MPPCB and CPCB.
4. Vide order dated 14.03.2024, the Tribunal had constituted a Joint Committee to assess the factual status of solid and liquid waste management selectively. The said Committee after visiting the cities of Jabalpur, Rewa, Ratlam, Gwalior and Morena filed its report on 17.09.2024.
5. So far as the status of compliance in the city of Jabalpur is concerned, the report of the Joint Committee discloses as under:-
i. The Jabalpur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has approximately 13.75 lacs population which generates about 522.50 TPD of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). There are 4 garbage transfer 2 stations located at Chuii Khadan, Ranjhi, Aga Chowk and Damohnaka against the required 12 number of transfer stations.
ii. There is a waste-to-energy plant with 600 TPD MSW processing capacity based on mass-burning technology with a power generation capacity of 11.5 MWH at Kathonda, Jabalpur on PPP model. The said plant was declared a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) in 2019 and is currently under the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and run by Resolution Officer. Upon declaration of NPA, the plant was not receiving the necessary major maintenance funds from the bank leading to a significant decline in its operational efficiency. Due to lack of maintenance, the plant now requires downtime for maintenance of about 1-2 weeks every month. Frequent shutdown of the plant operation majorly impacts the performance of the plant for waste handling and processing of the city waste.
iii. There is no practice of waste segregation in dry and wet waste categories at household levels. The entire waste (dry and wet) of the city is collected and stored at garbage transfer station and thereafter shifted to the waste-to-energy plant, in this process dry and wet waste mixed together reduces the calorific value of the waste. Therefore, alternative fuel like rice husk, wooden powder etc. is used to enhance the Gross Calorific Value (GCV) of the waste.
iv. There is an average processing gap of 9169.33 MT from November 2023 to April 2024 which is leading to the accumulation of the MSW at the back of the waste-to-energy plant. At the time of the visit of the Joint Committee, the waste-to-energy plant was not 3 functional due to the repairing of the boiler sider. Consequently, a huge quantity of waste was found to accumulate in the surroundings of the waste to energy plant. The Joint Committee also found that in addition to the MSW, huge quantity of residues (bottom ash/fly ash) generated from waste to energy plant was dumped around waste to energy plant. The scientific landfill site constructed for the purpose was not used and found barren. The Committee also found that the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) installed at the waste-to-energy plant with a capacity of 50 m3/day was not operational.
v. One scientific landfill site for the disposal of MSW is developed by JMC at Kathonda. Capping of the landfill site was not done. vi. So far as the Leachate treatment plant is concerned, a leachate collection tank at the landfill site was found but there was no leachate collected in the tank and the ETP was found non- functional.
vii. The legacy waste dump site was located at the Ranitaal Jabalpur spread over around 18 acres of land which was not in operation for 15 years.
viii. So far as the sewerage system is concerned the Committee found the following status:
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Zone Area Households Households Sewerage Sewerage Timeline for Scheme connection connected as network network completion required on Apr 2024 length length required complete d (Km) (Km) Zone Central 165999 9000 + 1 Earlier 200 84 June JNNURM 01 area of Drain Km 2027 2006 as the city network Phase 01, was remainin proposed, g work revised under length is AMRUT 701 Km 2.0 Zone Ranjhi, 41274 23575 210 207 June JNNURM 02 Adharaal 2024 2006 as area Phase 02, remaining work Zone Civil 6039 - 12 8 November under 03 Line 2024 AMRUT area 1.0 Zone Gwarighat 27826 - 86 85 June 04 Rampur 2024 area Zone Medical, 28803 7142 101 99 June 05 Dhan 2024 vantri& Ganga nagar area Zone Newly 30129 - 175 - June AMRUT 06 added 55 2027 2.0 villages ix. As per the report of the Joint Committee JMC generates about 148.5 MLD of sewage from the household of the city, out of which only 30.07 MLD of sewage is being treated in 7 STPs and the rest of the untreated sewage is being directly discharged into the municipal drains which ultimately joint river Narmada.
x. With respect to the STPs, the Joint Committee found that there are 7 operational STPs, 4 under construction STPs and 3 under 5 trial stage STPs in JMC but out of 7 operational STPs, 5 were found to be not working on their designed capacity as there was lack of sewerage network and connection with the household. As a result, a very small quantity of domestic wastewater is reaching to these STPs. The operational details of the STP in Jabalpur is disclosed by the joint Committee as under:-
S. Location Capacity Capacity Operational Scheme Gap in Technology No of STP utilized status of treatment MLD) (MLD) STP (MLD)
1. STP 50 16 Operational Project Uday WSP Kathonda
2. Jabalpur 32 3.2 Operational AMRUT, SBR (Zone II Operational 118.43 Khatonda) Nov 2022 with respect to
3. Ranital 5.0 5.0 Operational Smart city collection SBR project Ltd. and treatment
4. Jabalpur 29 5.0 Not in AMRUT, SBR (Zone-V operation Under trail Tevar) during visit due to power cut
5. STP, 0.55 0.32 Operational Nagar Nigam ASP Navaghat- Jabalpur Gwarighat
6. STP 0.50 0.45 Operational Nagar Nigam MBBR Gulauatal Jabalpur xi. In respect of the construction and demolition waste (C&D waste) status in JMC, the Committee found that there is only one C&D waste processing plant with an installed capacity of 50 TPD. But CTO is not granted for the C&D waste processing plant which has been operating for the last 2 years. The Joint Committee found that out of the 5 conveyor belts provided with the crusher units only 1 conveyor belt was covered and fugitive emissions from the crusher units were observed and a proper logbook at the C&D waste plant was not being maintained. The observations of the Committee in respect of the City of Jabalpur are as under:-6
"Observation of the committee:
The total municipal solid waste generated in the Jabalpur city was reported as 507.93 TPD in the report submitted to Hon'ble NGT. However, the municipal solid waste generated in Jabalpur city was observed as 522.5 TPD.
The existing waste to energy plant, based on mass burning technology, at Kathonda, Jabalpur with installed capacity of 600 TPD was sufficient for processing of entire solid waste of the city, however due to poor operation & maintenance, the waste to energy plant was not operational regularly, thereby, large amount of unprocessed solid waste was accumulated at the back side of the plant.
As per the data provided by the WTE plant for the last 6 months (Nov 2023 to Apr 2024) the gap in processing of waste is about 303 TPD in Jabalpur city. The untreated waste is being dumped at the back side of the WTE plant.
In the month of December 2023, January 2024 and April 2024 gap in collection is 645.5 MT, 1931.5 MT and 157 MT respectively (average 911.33 MT for three months).
There was an average processing gap of 9196.33 MT from November 2023 to April 2024, which leads to accumulation of solid waste at the back side of waste to energy plant.
The reasons for non-operational of waste to energy plant was to receive the mixed waste of low calorific value at the plant which had more content of inert materials. The inert material should be disposed of at scientific landfill site provided for the purpose instead of dumping near the WTE plant.
There was a lack of coordination between Jabalpur Nagar Nigam and operator of waste to energy plant to provide the facility of waste processing.
Open burning of solid waste found in the different part of the city during the visit of Joint Committee. JMC must ensure to stop open burning of waste in the city and take necessary action against defaulters, as per SWM Rules, 2016.
Legacy waste processing of 1.86 lakh MT was done and balance quantity of approximate 1.62 lakh MT was proposed under JMC project Phase-II with remediation period of 01 year, JMC should take immediate action to complete the project.7
During the visit, total capacity of the STPs installed in the city was 160.35 MLD, out of which construction of 117.15 MLD STP completed, and 43.2 MLD of STPs was under construction/trail stage, and total utilized capacity of STPs was 30.07 MLD, hence there was gap of 118.43 MLD with respect to collection and treatment, however due to lack of sewerage collection network and house service connection, plants were not operational at their designed capacity."
xii. Somewhat, similar is the position noted by the Joint Committee in respect of the city Rewa, Ratlam and Gwalior.
6. On the examination of the report of the joint committee in the context of all the four cities we find the following status:
Solid Waste Management
(i) The data provided by the State in the context of solid waste segregation, Processing and the gap does not telly with disclosure made in the report of the joint committee.
(ii) Installed waste management facilities are under-utilised with poor operation and maintenance.
(iii) Segregated and fresh waste is being disposed of on legacy waste sites particularly at Morena, Gwalior and at Jabalpur.
(iv) Bioremediation and bio-mining processes are not in full compliance with the SOP of CPCB, particularly in respect of the management of leachate and estimating legacy waste in quantified terms. The status of legacy waste for five cities is computed in the table given below:
Legacy Waste Status City Dumpsite Legacy waste quantity in Lakh MT location Total Remediated Remaining % completion Completion time Jabalpur Ranital 3.48 1.86 1.62 53 % Not decided Rewa Kosta 0.824 Nil 0.824 0% Dec 2024 Ratlam Julwaniya 3.16 0.957 2.21 30 % Dec 2024 Gwalior Kedarpur 8.76 2.44 6.32 26 % Mar 2025 Buddhapark 0.756 Nil 0.756 Morena RTO site 0.156 0.299 Excess quantity was Not decided identified 8 Nivi 1.06 0.505 0.554 47 % Sewage management
(i) There is inadequate sewage collection and its transportation.
Further, household connectivity is not ensured.
(ii) Feeding of effluent to STPs is through drains and nallah which is diluted and upset the performance of STPs.
(iii) Capacities of STPs are underutilized and further STPs are being constructed without having simultaneous household connections.
(iv) There exists gap in sewage treatment. Untreated sewage is being discharged into rivers. At Jabalpur, 118.43 MLD of untreated sewage through drains is being discharged into river Narmada.
(v) Gap existing in sewage treatment in five cities is given in the following table:
City Sewage Existing Under Utilized Gap in generation Capacity of construction Capacity collection (MLD) STPs (MLD) STPs (MLD) (MLD) and treatment (MLD) Jabalpur 148.50 117.15 43.20 30.07 118.43 Rewa 38.55 12 22 - 38.55 (not (3 MLD operational) proposed) Ratlam 35.81 37.5 - 11.5 24.31 Gwalior 159.52 222 - 112.463 47.057 Morena 31.10 25 - 10 21.10
7. We have noted the findings of the joint Committee in respect of each city and the city-specific recommendations.
8. After the previous order dated 14.03.2024, six-monthly progress report dated 17.09.2024 has been filed through e-mail by the State of Madhya Pradesh. We have perused the report which lacks clarity and following are the deficiencies and gaps:-
(A) Solid Waste Management
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i) We find that 22.98,660 Lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of legacy
waste is yet to be remediated and out of 87 ULBs, only 54 ULBs have awarded/started the work. Page 1534 shows that the remaining legacy waste is 26.00 LMT, which needs to be clarified.
ii) We also find that out of 413 ULBs only 87 ULBs have been considered relevant from legacy waste remediation point of view. In the next report, no ULB should be left out and if so, the reason should be clearly disclosed. We further make it clear that the estimation of legacy waste has to be done properly following accepted laid-down methods rather than depending on assumptions. In view of the aforementioned observations, a review should be undertaken at the level of Secretary UD, involving Technical institutions, if required.
iii) After perusal of Annexure 1 (page 1471) we do not find any reason for delaying remediation of legacy waste in smaller ULBs having comparatively lesser quantities of legacy waste like Badagaon, Bijawar, Sarangpur and others. It would be appropriate to standardise the remediation process for smaller ULBs and carry out execution simultaneously rather than delaying the process till 2025 trapping them in Technical and Tendering processes.
iv) Waste generation is estimated to be 6798.44 TPD from 413 ULBs and processing of 6723.16 TPD is being done thereby leaving a gap of 75.44 TPD
v) Annexure 2 (page 1476) discloses fractions arising out of biomining but analysis of contents of bio soil is not disclosed as such material is being disposed of in low-lying areas.
vi) We find that gaps disclosed in waste processing in Annexure 3 (page 1480) appear to be hypothetical. For instance, ULBs like Nalkheda, Bhavra, Pasan, Ghodadogri, Multai, Kasrawad, Deori, Dabhoura etc., disclose very little processing gap which otherwise can be taken into processing rather than indicating as gap.
vii) We further find that cities and towns like Bhind, Bhopal, Dewas, Guna, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Morena, Katni, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Singrauli, Ujjain, Shivpuri and Vidisha are showing 100% waste processing and under such circumstances, there should not be any legacy waste existing in these cities. Complete details in this regard should be placed on record in the next report..
(B) Sewage Management
i) Estimated sewage generation is 2183.7 MLD having a treatment capacity of 1472.79 MLD with the installation of 68 STPs. However, only 876.82 MLD is actually treated and the resultant gap is 1306.88 MLD.
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ii) STPs are underutilized (Annexure 7) on account of incomplete household connectivity thereby creating a gap in treatment and damaging the recipient environment. Such gap is quite distinct at Bhopal, Indore, Singrauli, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Dewas, Gwalior, Morena, Ratlam and Sagar,
iii) We find from Annexure 8 (page 1510) that proposed STPs at 47 locations with total 339.26 MLD capacity have timelines up to July 2027. It is not clear that why setting up of STP at locations like Maksi for 1.6 MLD, Meghnagar, Alirajpur and others for such small quantity should take such a long time. Further, unless household connectivity is established, these STPs will remain underutilized like existing ones thereby incurring expenditures without proper results.
iv) We also find from Annexure 8 (page 1512) that 226 STPs are proposed to treat 805.57 mld of sewage for which either DPRs are approved or pending for technical evaluation, etc and such uncertainties raise doubts about compliance with the Water Act and the Order of Hon'ble Supreme Court in Paryavaran Suraksha (2017 5 SCC 326).
v) Annexure 9 (page 1519- 1528) needs to be reviewed by Secretary UD to consolidate reliable data for 413 ULBs. The review should address treatment capacities existing, their utilisation, discrepancies/correct presentation of data (Gwalior), Overdesign, etc. It should also be ensured that smaller ULBs properly handle O&M issues.
(C) Ring Fence Account
i) The present report discloses allocations for setting up facilities
for solid and liquid waste management. However, these allocations are dependent on centrally sponsored/funded schemes. The next report should disclose allocations concerning each ULBs (413) for the management of solid and liquid waste to bridge the gaps.
9. Let a fresh action taken report be filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh covering the aspects noted above at least one week before the next date of hearing by way of affidavit through e-filing.
10. List the matter on 14.07.2025 for consideration of report in respect of State of Madhya Pradesh.
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11. For the State of Punjab, the matter be listed on 27.09.2024 as per the earlier direction.
Prakash Shrivastava, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM September 26, 2024 Original Application No. 606/2018 (IA No. 163/2021 & IA No. 299/2024) dv..
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