SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya High Court said that it wouldn’t hesitate to issue harsh directions against the government if appropriate steps were not taken to resolve the garbage issue in Jowai and directed the state to come up with a “better” solution in the next 10 days.
In its order, the two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh said, “This is a matter where there can be no judicial solution; but the Court will not hesitate to issue directions that may be harsh for both the State and local administration, if public life is endangered as a result of any apathy to take appropriate steps on the part of the authorities who are responsible therefor.”
Stating that intervention of the Court in such issues are limited, the two-member bench said, “Judges sitting in courtrooms cannot identify sites to be used for permanent or temporary dumping of garbage and it is high time that the State and the local administration got more proactive and not train the gun, so to say, from the Court’s shoulders.” The bench was hearing a PIL filed by the Synjuk Ki Waheh Shnong Jowai on the issue.
The court observed that the problem has persisted for nearly two months now and the residents of Jowai have been more than patient in enduring the ordeal.
Synjuk, in its complaint, had stated that household garbage keeps piling up in front of houses in Jowai without any mechanism in place for its removal, the Jowai Municipal Board informed that garbage from the streets and markets is being regularly removed in trucks and taken to the temporary site.
The court, however, directed that it is imperative that the household garbage be also removed simultaneously with the removal of garbage from the streets and the markets.
Meanwhile, the state had informed that the headmen of the relevant villages have declined to allow the proposed permanent site for dumping garbage to which the court said that “a solution has to be found out by the state and local administration and there cannot be any judicial pronouncement as to which would be the proper site”.
The state also informed that steps have been taken for solid waste management at an estimated cost in excess of Rs 13 crore.
The court has also taken into consideration the prospect of the pre-monsoon showers on garbage resulting in a “deadly cocktail, toxic for most plant and animal life and making for the ideal hotbed for diseases, looms large”.
“This aspect cannot be over emphasised as the monsoon is due within a month and the pre-monsoon showers show no sign of relenting,” it said.
The court further directed that the permanent dumping site has to be identified sooner than later and arrangements have to be made, irrespective of how far it may be from Jowai.
“Things cannot wait nor can garbage be allowed to pile up, whether in public places or individual homes, till the solid waste management system is put in place,” the court said.
Referring to earlier orders which indicated there are immediate urgent measures which ought to be taken and certain other measures taken on a long-term basis, the court, however, asserted that “the immediate cannot wait nor can the long-term mechanism be delayed any further.”