The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has directed the Delhi government the payment of Rs 900 crore as environmental compensation for poor management of solid municipal waste. The bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel observed that “citizens cannot be faced with an emergency situation due to lack of governance.” Around 80% of the legacy waste at the three landfill sites — Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla — was not remediated, noted the bench. The quantity of legacy waste at the three dumpsites was 300 lakh metric tonnes.

The bench also includes Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert members A Senthil Vel and Afroz Ahmad, who said that the scenario presented a grim picture of an environmental emergency in the national capital. The waste dumpsites occupied expensive and scarce public land, said the NGT. “The area is 152 acres and its price even at a conservative rate is more than Rs 10,000 crore at the applicable circle rate and thus the urgency to retrieve the said public asset for beneficial public use,” it said.

The bench stated, “We hold the National Capital Territory of Delhi liable to pay environmental compensation of Rs 900 crore having regard to the quantity of undisposed waste which is to the extent of three crore metric tonnes at the three landfill sites,” in determining the responsibility of the state authorities for prior violations.

The sum could be placed in a ring-fenced account to be run on the chief secretary of Delhi’s instructions for environmental restoration through waste remediation and other means, the bench said. Additionally, it instructed the authorities to make sure that current waste was disposed of in accordance with standards and was not added to legacy waste sites.

The NGT mandated that an interim progress report be submitted by January 15, 2023, outlining the status of compliance as of December 31, 2022.