Meghalaya HC directs State govt to ensure proper waste management in Jowai

Guwahati: The Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to ensure that there is no piling up of garbage or waste at any place in Jowai.

Hearing a PIL, a Meghalaya HC bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Deingdoh stressed the importance of a robust waste management system in Jowai.

“Once the relevant unit becomes functional, the State, in conjunction with the Jowai Municipal Board, will work out modalities for waste from different parts of the Jowai town to be reached to the unit and places where local residents and commercial entities may dump their waste for such waste to be ferried to the disposal unit’, the Court observed.

While closing the PIL on the subject the bench also circumscribed a timeline observing that such plan should be chalked out in the course of the next month so that it can be implemented from day one of the commissioning of the unit.

The PIL sought redressal of irregular waste collection in Jowai, a town in Meghalaya.

The petitioner submitted that despite the previous orders of this Court, there has been irregular collection of waste, particularly from residents in Jowai.

The Jowai Municipal Board, however, contended that the schedule indicated earlier is being adhered to.

Emphasizing the completion of the 10-TPD solid waste-management system, the bench asked the Jowai Municipal Board to adhere rigorously to the previously submitted schedule.

While underscoring the retrieval of the Monsson and the diminished waste-related health hazards the court directed, “However, the Jowai Municipal Board, which has been somewhat lacking in its performance, should ensure that the schedule submitted in Court is strictly adhered to and waste is collected both from residential and commercial units till such time that a new system is put in place upon the waste disposal unit being commissioned’.