SC junks panel’s report on garbage, says it’s ‘cosmetic’

NEWDELHI:THE Supreme Court on Monday termed as “cosmetic” a report prepared by an expert panel, appointed by the Lieutenant-governor, to deal with mountains of garbage in the Capital.

A bench of justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta was unimpressed with the report and said the proposed steps to dispose of garbage will not solve the “gigantic” solid waste problem.

After perusing the report, the bench said: It’s all cosmetic. It will look green but toxic waste will remain under. “You are not segregating plastic waste.”

The report suggested compressing and compacting of garbage at three landfill sites in Delhi – Ghazipur, Bhalaswa and Okhla.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is assisting the court in a matter related to dengue deaths in the Capital, raised objections. The lawyer said garbage disposal can be handled in a better manner and praised the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission.

ASG Pinky Anand, who is representing the L-G, said there was no complete solution to the problem and the panel’s suggestion may not be the best but it was the most feasible solution. It would be “utopian to think that garbage could be completely got rid of”, Anand said.

As Gonsalves insisted there were better ways to deal with the problem, the bench asked for a report, which, he said, would be by experts who have worked on the ground level. The bench posted the matter for hearing on