Don't Rubbish The Court

Here's how local authorities in Delhi can enact imaginative by-laws to clean up the city

- Swati Singh Sambyal

ON AUGUST 2, the Delhi High Court asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to draft by-laws for the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and place it before the court within two weeks. Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar gave this direction while hearing two petitions seeking directions to municipal bodies and other authorities to prevent the spread of dengue, chikungunya and malaria. A 16-member committee—comprising representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Urban Development, Centre for Science and Environment and mcd among others—formed by the court had submitted its long-term action plan report. The court asked the mcd to examine the committee’s plan and give a time table before asking for more land for garbage disposal.

So what are the problems afflicting Delhi’s waste management system? To begin with, we do not know how much waste Delhi generates. The corporations woefully lack capacities to enforce rules and to ensure compliance. There is dearth of infrastructure to support decentralised processing. The city has over 2,300