Contractors hired to clear legacy waste, work underway: MCG assures

The fire at the landfill, which raged for four days earlier this month, was brought to the court's notice by senior advocate Aparajita Singh

- Leena Dhankhar

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday expressed serious concern over the repeated fires at Gurugram's Bandhwari landfill and directed the city's municipal body to file a timeline for clearing 900,000 metric tonnes of legacy waste piled at the site.

A bench headed by Justice Abhay S Oka, hearing the broader issue of air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), ordered the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to submit an affidavit specifying the outer limit for removing the legacy waste.

Directing that a response in the matter be filed by May 15, the bench, which also comprised Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, asked the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to consider issuing preventive orders under Section 12 of the CAQM Act.

Section 12 deals with the powers and functions of CAQM and empowers the commission to take measures and issue directions and entertain complaints, as it deems necessary, for the purpose of protecting and improving air quality in the NCR.

"It will be appropriate if CAQM issues directions dealing with the issue, particularly with regard to the preventive measures," the order said.