Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 26 Aug: The Itanagar permanent bench of the Gauhati High Court on Thursday gave three months’ deadline to the urban development & housing (UD&H) secretary, the West Siang deputy commissioner and the West Siang DMO to expedite the process of installing a solid waste management plant (SWMP) in Aalo.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Reken Ingo in 2021. Ingo had filed the PIL, contesting the haphazard dumping of wastes at the shamshan ghat area in Hissam village, and pleading for relocating the waste disposal area from Hissam village.
The petitioner also appealed to the court to issue a direction to frame guidelines for the disposal of solid waste, install an incinerator for non-biodegradable wastes and medical wastes in Aalo town, and ensure proper implementation of the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000, the Arunachal Pradesh e-Waste Management Policy, 2019, and the Arunachal Pradesh Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016.
Justices AM Bujor Barua and Devashis Baruah noted, “If there is any requirement to be done by the UD&H department to facilitate the deputy commissioner in implementing the order, such requirements shall be provided by the UD&H department, and the secretary of the department shall ensure that the required facilities are provided.”
“We have taken note that most of the requirements of the order as directed to the deputy commissioner, Aalo, should also have the cooperation of the UD&H department of the government of Arunachal Pradesh, in as much as the funding and sanctioning of the projects would have to come from the department and the deputy commissioner would only be an implementing agency,” the court added.
It directed the Aalo UD executive engineer to submit the status report to the Arunachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board within seven days, and also directed the board to “monitor the implementation of solid waste management rules in Aalo township.”
It is learnt that the present dumping ground was created during 1997-98 by taking some portion of land from the burial-cum-cremation ground which was donated by late Tamut and late Bode Lomi.
However, in 2011-12 the dumping ground was relocated to Logum Jini area due to expansion of human settlements.
It is said that the UD department has identified a plot of land at Pobdi village, donated by one Kemjom Ete, and that the SWMP has been sanctioned.
The department in its affidavit stated that, “to install incinerator for non-biodegradable waste and medical waste in Aalo town is not currently available in the department,” but gave assurance that, “after installation of the MRF project, these equipment will be available.”
