HC restrains Jalandhar MC from constructing compost centre

CHANDIGARH:The Punjab and Haryana high court has restrained the Jalandhar municipal corporation (MC) from constructing a compost centre.

The direction was given by the bench of acting chief justice Rajiv Sharma and justice HS Sidhu during the resumed hearing of a petition filed by a local resident, Vishal Mahajan.

Mahajan had told the court that the MC had dug already dug landfills for the compost centre and residential colonies were in close proximity to the landfill sites.

It also emerged that the MC had not obtained a no-objection certificate from the Punjab Pollution Control Board, which is mandatory. The MC told the court that municipal waste will be collected from residential areas and transported to the site where it will be segregated, after which manure will be prepared.

The bench held that collection and dumping of municipal waste will release a foul odour and emit harmful gases and that the MC should have followed the norms of the pollution control board.

THE MC HAD NOT TAKEN A NO-OBJECTION CERTIFICATE FROM THE PUNJAB POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

‘FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO FRESH AIR’

The bench said residents of the area had a fundamental right to fresh air.

The court said, “All of us must make an endeavour to save the environment and ecology from further degradation,” adding that it was the duty of municipal authorities throughout the state to preserve, conserve and save the environment by adhering to the law in letter and spirit.