National Green Tribunal
Mass Empowerment And Guidance ... vs The Kayalpattinam Municipality on 21 November, 2022
Author: Satyagopal Korlapati
Bench: Satyagopal Korlapati
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
Original Application No. 11 of 2021 (SZ)
(Through Video Conference)
IN THE MATTER OF
Mass empowerment and guidance association
Reg No: 75/2016
Rep by its Secretary Mr. Mohamed Salihu
2C, Thaika Street, Kayalpatnam, Thoothukudi District,
...Applicant(s)
Versus
1. The Kayalpattinam Municipality,
Rep by its Commissioner,
Municipal Office, 49, Mutharamman Kovil Street,
Kayalpattinam- 628204
2. The District Environmental Engineer,
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board,
C7 & C9, SIPCOT Industrial Complex, Meelavittan,
Thoothukudi.
3. Director of Municipal Administration,
No. 78, Urban Administrative Building,
Santhome High Road,
Chennai- 600028.
...Respondent(s)
For Applicant(s): Mr. A. Yogeshwaran
For Respondent(s): Mr. Saravanan for R1.
Mr. Sai Sathya Jith for R2
Judgment Reserved on: 11th November, 2022.
Judgment Pronounced on: 21st November, 2022.
CORAM:
HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE PUSHPA SATHYANARAYANA, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. SATYAGOPAL KORLAPATI, EXPERT MEMBER
JUDGMENT
Delivered by Smt. Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member
1. Aggrieved by the illegal dumping of waste by the 1st respondent, Kayalpattinam Municipality and concerned over the failure to biomine and remove the legacy waste from the site, the above application is filed to direct the respondent to remediate the existing illegal dumpsite of the 1 st 1 respondent in and around Kayalpattinam South Revenue Village and restore the area to its original position and direct the payment of compensation for environmental harm on account of the violations committed by the 1st respondent. Besides directing the 2nd respondent to prosecute the 1st respondent for violations of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and other related Acts.
2. Sy. No. 43/1 in Kayalpattinam village consists of residential houses, municipal slaughter house and TANGEDCO sub-station etc. It is alleged that the municipality has been dumping the waste over the last four decades leaving significant impact on the environment and on the people. It is pointed out that there was no consent obtained under Section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and there is no authorisation under Rule 6 of the MSW Rules, 2000. The dumpyard has not been provided with the impermeable lining etc as required by the rule. Clearance under the EIA Notification, 2006 had not been obtained. The 1st respondent, which is the Municipal Authority in charge of clearance of waste, stopped dumping at the present site since 2016. Nevertheless, the wastes dumped over the years continue to lie at the site and the leachate from the waste flows on to the roads and other areas causing severe pollution. The abandoned dumpyard without removing the legacy waste has become a menace as rodents, insects, flies etc., are attracted which carry diseases posing a serious health to the people living there. Above all, the waste is also set on fire on and off polluting the air.
3. Earlier in the connected Original Application No. 50 of 2016 a Joint Committee was constituted to assess the status regarding the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and if there is any damage caused to the environment to assess the Environmental Compensation also. The same Committee was directed to ascertain the nature of waste dumped, the quantity of legacy waste lying there and the steps taken by the Municipality for disposal of the legacy waste besides the damages caused to the environment including soil and ground water on account of the untreated legacy waste being kept there for long time.
4. The 1st respondent had filed a reply through its Commissioner. It is stated that the Kayalpattinam Municipality is Grade-I Town Panchayat 2 and was upgraded as Selection Grade Town Panchayat in the year 1982. Thereafter, the said Municipality was upgraded as Grade-III Municipality from the year 2004. The said Municipality is governing an extent of 12.50Sq.Kms comprising of 18 wards and the population of the Municipality is 47,000 approximately.
5. Admittedly, the Municipality had been dumping the waste in the Paparapalli for the last 50 years. While so, a proper disposal facility of solid waste was proposed along with a Bio-methanation Power Plant to digest the degradable market waste in a digester. Both the projects were meant to treat the solid waste generated from the municipal area, thereby ensuring better environment and health of the community. Pursuant to the above proposals the Municipality had allotted 4.5 acres in Sy. No. 278/1B of Kayalpattinam South Village for setting up of Bio- methanation plant. The Municipality also had applied for authorization under the 2000 Rules as notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to establish a municipal solid waste facility. The Municipality had also applied for establishment of Bio-methanation power plant in the remaining area of 0.3 acres. In addition a proposal for implementation of solid waste has been submitted to the State Government under 'Swachh Bharat Mission' Scheme which was also accepted by the State Level Sanction Committee in 2017 and the administrative sanction was also accorded.
6. In the meanwhile, there was another Original Application No. 50 of 2016 filed to restrain the Municipality from dumping waste in Sy. No. 278/1B of Kayalpattinam South Village without complying with the mandatory requirements of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules and the provisions of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Further to direct the 1st respondent to remove the waste dumped in the site comprises in SY. No. 278/1B.
7. After the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 was notified, time frame was given for implementation for the local bodies to comply with. As per the new Rules of 2016, consent from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board was deemed to be not necessary since the proposed treatment plant i.e. Bio-methanation plant is only for handling waste upto 05 metric tonnes. The respondent, Municipality is on process of setting up Bio-
3methanation plant and has proper hedging, vegetation cover, processing facilities in the proposed site.
8. It is now stated that the solid waste generated is around 14 metric tonnes per day in which 9.5 tonnes is biodegradable and 4.5 tonnes is non-degradable. It is also stated that the Municipality has sufficient sanitary workers, staff for the purpose of disposal of municipal solid waste. Apart from the manpower, the municipality also has purchased tipper lorries, other vehicles including pushcarts and battery operated vehicles to be employed in the solid waste disposal. It is further stated that field staffs of the municipality also do the segregation of the solid waste at source by door to door collection.
9. The Municipality has established composting centres to treat and dispose the wastes that are generated every day by complying with the pollution control norms. The Micro composting centres are established in two places in SY. Nos. 278/1B and 392/5 with the capacity three metric tonnes. In addition on-site composting centre is established at Sy. No. 437 of Kayalpattinam Municipality with a capacity of 0.50 metric tonnes.
10. The important aspect to be considered is about the disposal of the legacy waste. In order to mitigate the said problem, the Kayalpattinam Municipality had duly inspected the site and a detailed project report had been formulated enumerating the various processes and procedures involved in the biomining and as such a proposal to biomine the legacy waste of 19960Cu.M and reclaim the land of 2.65 acres has been sent for approval of the State Government. Once the approval of the Government is granted, the legacy wastes which remain at site in Paparapalli will be removed completely through biomining.
11. The Municipality as assured that the biomining will be done strictly as per the standard and all the legacy waste that is found to be dumped at the site will be cleared and no waste will dumped anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Municipality.
12. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had filed its affidavit dated 07.03.2022 in which it is stated that the ground water was available in the area surrounding the dump site at a depth of about 10 feet below the ground level. The report analysis of the above water samples shows the presence of high TDS, Chlorides and Sulphates in the water samples which may be due to the sea water intrusion. The presence of high TDS, 4 Chlorides and Sulphates in the water samples shows that the ground water is already unfit for drinking purposes owing to the sea water intrusion. The report further states that the dumpsite located at Paparapalli in SF. No. 43/1 belong to the Revenue Department, there is no fresh municipal solid waste found at the dumpsite and the municipal solid waste found is biominable waste/legacy waste. The total quantity of the waste at the dumpsite was reported to be about 19960 m3 by volume and the dumping was stopped from the year 2016.
13. While so this Tribunal had issued a direction on 29.08.2022 to implead the Director of Municipal Administration as the steps promised to have been taken were all incomplete for various reasons like sanction or release of funds from the Government etc. Pursuant to the said direction, the Director of Municipal Administration had filed a report on 27.09.2022 detailing the status of the Kayalpattinam Municipality qua the solid waste management and disposal of legacy waste. The report states that the non-biodegradable waste collected in the municipal area is properly segregated and the unused plastic waste is sent to Kadayakudi RRC for recycling through M/s. Jass Foundation, Anna Nagar, Chennai and awareness is also being given to the residents of all households about waste segregation from source i.e. house through municipal SBM Animators. It is further stated that the biodegradable waste is composted and provided to farmers free of cost for use as manure and the Kadayakudi compost centre is said to be functioning as per SWM Rules, 2016.
14. The applicant had expressed his anguish for not remediating the dumpsite in and around SY. No. 43/1 Kayalpattinam south village at Papparapalli area. In that regard the report of the Director of Municipal Administration is as follows:
"8. It is submitted that with respect to the disposal of the legacy waste which has been dumped in the Papparapalli dumping ground for the past 40 years in the Kayalpattinam Municipality, this respondent has conducted a systematic survey of this site and a detailed project had been prepared after due procedure and had been sent for approval of the Government to remove the legacy waste of 22436 sq.m.
9. Pursuant to the above, it is submitted that the Director of Municipal Administration, Chennai has issued a process order no. Na.Ka. No. 9512/2022/SBM-1 dated 20.06.2022 wherein an amount of Rs. 160.50 lakhs has been allocated for biomining of legacy waste at Papparapalli dumping ground and administrative approval has been obtained.
10. It is submitted that the Centre for Environmental Studies Anna University had also prepared an Evaluation Report on Biomining of legacy waste at the request of this respondent and the same is annexed herewith.
11. It is submitted that the technical approval for the biomining work was issued by the Chief Engineer, Directorate of Municipal Administration, Chennai through the order no. Na.Ka.No.001/2022/DO1 dated 20.07.2022 5 and therefore based on the above administrative approval, a work order has been issued dated 26.08.2022 for the above said solid waste disposal work for biomining and the work is scheduled to be completed within 6 months subject to climatic conditions and on completion of the work, the entire legacy waste will be removed completely.
15. The report which is filed in the month of September states that it would take 06 months to complete the process as per the schedule which is subject to the climatic conditions. The above said report and the undertaking to complete the work are recorded.
16. In view of the above, the above Original Application is disposed of with the following directions:
(i) The Director of Municipal Administration is directed to follow up the work order which was issued on 26.08.2022 and ensure that the work is completed thoroughly within the timeframe in his report.
(ii) The Director of Municipal Administration is also directed to file a report of compliance after 06 months.
17. With the above directions, the Original Application is disposed of.
18. Post for reporting compliance on 28.04.2023.
...........................................................J.M. (Smt. Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana) .......................................E.M. (Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati) Internet - Yes/No All India NGT Reporter - Yes/No O.A. No.11/2021(SZ) 21st November, 2022. (AM) 6 Before the National Green Tribunal Southern Zone (Chennai) O.A. No. 11 of 2021 Mass Empowerment and Guidance Association.
Vs. The Kayalpattinam Municipality and Ors.
O.A. No. 11/2021(SZ) 21st November, 2022. (AM) 7