NGT directs DPCC to ensure no sewage is dumped near East Delhi hospital

The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the handling of municipal solid waste in East Delhi and directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to ensure that no sewage is dumped in a drain abutting the Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in Trilokpuri here. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that it is clear that a sewage pumping station is not operational on the ground that the land is not available and there is no system of carrying untreated sewage from a slaughterhouse. There is no interim arrangement to prevent untreated sewage from being discharged into water bodies in violation of provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, it said.

'DPCC has to perform its statutory duty'

The green panel said that the DPCC has to perform its statutory duty under Section 33A of the Water Act to enforce the mandate of Section 24 of prohibiting disposal of any polluting matter into any stream or sewer.

"Let DPCC take appropriate legal action in accordance with law and furnish further report within one month by e-mail," the bench said while posting the matter for the next hearing on January 23, 2020.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation, in its report had earlier told the NGT that garbage from the site has been removed and the issue of pig farms to be shifted is pending before the Delhi High Court. "The drain is being re-constructed by the PWD and at present the debris from the drain has been removed from the trench and dumped along the ground. However, EDMC is carrying out regular cleanliness drive, chalk powder is spread to avoid any infectious and waterborne diseases and ensuring that the area remains clean," the civic body had said. It also told the bench that auto tippers have been deployed for collection of waste, and that dumping of construction waste and debris has been stopped.

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The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by city resident Surender Pal Verma alleging that an uncovered drain was being polluted by an unauthorised commercial slaughter house and garbage was being dumped into it, affecting inmates of the nearby Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in Trilokpuri here. 

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