Even as the Capital reels under ‘severe’ levels of air pollution, waste and leaves burning which are major contributors to smog, goes almost unchecked in the city. The three municipal corporations have failed to curb the rampant malpractice.
While only 348 challans were issued by North corporation between 1 April and 24 August, the East civic body issued 584 challans for the same period. The North Corporation has not issued any challans after 24 August this year. South Corporation, however, issued 9,016 challans for both burning of waste and for not taking dust control measures at construction sites between October 2015 and October 2016. The data of the three corporations shows the poor implementation of the ban on waste/leaves burning by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The NGT in an order in April 2015, had prohibited burning of leaves and garbage in the city—a practice followed almost religiously across Delhi NCR in the absence of a robust waste management system. There is a challan of Rs5,000 for anyone caught burning waste.
According to a recent report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), burning of biomass, garbage and leaves contribute to around 5 per cent of PM 10 and PM2.5 levels. This waste should ideally be composted.
“Waste burning is directly linked to waste management, which is very weak in the city. There is no real quantification of how much waste is burnt on roadsides and around individual houses. The practice increases in winters, when the smog is already heavy. The gases released from waste burning are further trapped in the atmosphere,” said Swanti S Sambyal, Project Manager, Waste Management, CSE.
Senior officials in the corporations, however, maintained that they do not have required manpower for issuing challans. Also, they claimed that most of the waste burning in winters takes place in low-profile areas such as JJ colonies etc where people cannot pay the fine of Rs 5,000.
“The challans are issued by the sanitation staff only, who are already engaged in cleaning up of landfill sites and dhalaos. We need to have a separate body for this vigilance over waste burning. We could not issue fines after August since the staff was engaged in special sanitation drive from vacant plots and focusing on cleaning accumulated garbage. However, issuing of challans will pick up pace this winter,” said a high-ranking North Corporation official.
In absence of an effective waste disposal system, the municipal staffers also indulge in burning of garbage, in particular, wet waste. “We will intensify the vigilance over waste burning this winter. It becomes hard for enforcement officials to catch people because they flee the area after lighting the waste,” said Puneet Kumar Goel, Commissioner, South Corporation.
Meanwhile, waste burning has serious health implications on people already suffering from respiratory problems. Dr SP Byotra, HOD, Internal Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, “The burning of leaves releases a lot of toxic in the air. People should try to stay indoor. In Delhi, 50-60 per cent people are suffering from respiratory diseases.”
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