Comply with norms, then start waste treatment plant: HC

› This plant could not have been set up when there is no development plan reservation or designation for the same in law. BOMBAY HC BENCH

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday restrained Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) from making its bio-methanisation plant atRajuNagarinDombivli(West) operational.

The division bench of justice SC Dharmadhikari and justice GS Patel said it was necessary to examine and ascertain that all the statutory requirements are complied with at the site, before allowing the plant to become fully operational.

The solid waste treatment plant (SWTP), set up to treat about 8 metric tonnes of bio-degradable waste generated in the adjoining areas, is undergoing a trial run.

The bench sought to first ascertain compliance with the regulatory and statutory requirements before allowing the plant to become functional.

This was after advocate Sharmila Deshmukh, who represented the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), informed the judges that the authority was yet to examine whether the plant was fully compliant and has adequate and scientific storage before treatment and that it would not cause nuisance to the neighbouring areas.

She was responding to a petition filed by a group of 12 cooperative housing societies near the solidwastedisposalplant, apprehending that it would emit obnoxious smell, substance and cause a nuisance.

Contending that the plant violated requirements of maintaining a buffer zone from a residential area, the societies also apprehendedthattheplantwouldpose a serious health hazard to more than 800 families.

KDMC responded to the petition, contending that it had taken an initiative to decentralise the solid waste treatment and the bio-methanisation plant was part of the integrated efforts adopted for processing and disposing of the horticulture waste from the gardens and the bio-degradable waste generated from the nearby areas.

The civic body had also taken preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition on the ground that the housing societies had not authorised the filing of the petition. But, the bench found the objection to be too technical for the issues pertaining to ecology and environment and for the fulfilment of statutory requirements.

The judges took into consideration that the land where the plant has been set up was reserved for the garden.

“The objection is that this (the bio-methanisation plant) could not have been set up when there is no development plan reservation for it,” said the bench.

“We cannot be unmindful of this serious objection and whether that can be got over in the manner done by the municipalcorporationitselfisanarguable question,” it added.