Will the NGT signal green to Corporation?

CHENNAI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), which began its operations on Monday, is expected to expedite 5,000-odd environment-related cases pending in various courts across India. The operationalisation of the tribunal is a significant development for one of the most prolific and crucial environmental issue of Chennai – setting up an integrated waste management facility in the midst of the Pallikaranai marshland. Both the Chennai Corporation and environmentalists are waiting with crossed fingers as the case is expected to come up for hearing on July 16.While environmentalists are opposing the project due to its proximity to eco-sensitive areas, including the Pallikarani marshland, where the project has been proposed, the city Corporation is desperate to get it cleared as the city is fast running out of space to handle municipal waste. “Till date, we have been dumping the waste around without proper treatment. But this project, if approved, will be the first scientific waste treatment facility in the city that will benefit close to 60 per cent of Chennaiites in getting rid of their waste in an environmentally friendly manner,” said D Karthikeyan, Chennai Corporation Commissioner.“The project will require only close to 1/20th of the present area that is used for dumping and we are willing to give back the marshy area to the forest department for conservation.In this way, it will be a win-win mechanism,” said Karthikeyan.The fears expressed by the environmentalists are not unfounded too and they suspect distortion of facts in the Environmental Impact Assessment conducted for the project.“The EIA (for the project) claims that there are no national parks in a 15km radius of the project site.But Perungudi project is located within 4.3km from the Guindy National Park, less than 500 metres from the Pallikaranai Reserve and seven kilometres from the Nanmangalam Reserve forest,” says V Srinivasan of Save Pallikaranai Forum, the citizens’ group that has filed the case against the project.Further, environmentalists state that the private company that has been awarded the contract of setting up the project has a poor track record doing similar projects in other states. “Hydroair Tectonics, the awardee of the contract, was engaged by the Goa state government to carry out a similar municipal waste management project which they couldn't fulfill within the stipulated conditions and the Goa state government has filed a case against the company,” says Srinivasan.The environmentalists also claim that the project proposal does not talk about segregating waste, a key factor to ensure scientific waste disposal. “Whatever facility they create, unless door to door segregation of waste is ensured, it cannot be called a scientific disposal system.It will then be like spitting into our source of water,” says environment crusader Nityanand Jayaraman.The recently notified Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules 2010 clearly categorise solid waste dumping as an activity prohibited under the rules. “Existing practices, if any... shall be phased out within a period of not exceeding six months from the date of commencement of these rules,” reads the Wetlands Rules in the Government Gazette.The rules were framed in December 2010. Seven months down the line, the city corporation is yet to consider a phase out. While conservation of the wetlands, a significant source of groundwater, and establishment of sound waste management facility seem equally important, it remains to be seen which of these interests will be compromised for the other.