The National Green Tribunal while monitoring the status of waste management across the country's states and Union Territories flagged several issues last month after analysing the progress reports submitted by Gujarat and Odisha.

A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted that the two states filed separate progress reports detailing the steps taken to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court's directions regarding solid waste management rules and establishing adequate sewage treatment plants (STPs).

Last year, the tribunal imposed environmental compensation (EC) on various states for the gaps in waste management, including Rs 2,100 crore on Gujarat, which had to be kept in a ring-fenced account. It stopped short of imposing the fine on Odisha after the state government gave an undertaking that it would set aside Rs 1,138 crore to address the gaps.

Regarding solid waste management in Gujarat, the bench also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Kumar Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel said, "The gap reported in waste processing is almost at the same level as was reported earlier, which is on account of not having waste processing facilities commensurate with waste generation." "Presently, waste generation is estimated to be 10,317 tonnes per day (TPD) and processing is to an extent of 8,872 TPD with a resultant gap of 1445 TPD," the bench added.

It noted that 1.24 lakh metric tons (LMT) of legacy waste was yet to be remediated across seven urban local bodies (ULBs).

The tribunal said that there was a gap of 531 million litres per day (MLD) in the state's sewage management.

About the EC amount, the tribunal said, "Details of the ring-fenced account are not disclosed'- The next report should also indicate funds allocated to each ULB to fill the gap in sewage and solid waste management." Odisha had a gap of 146.90 MLD in sewage management, the tribunal said, adding, "The utilisation of installed sewage treatment plant (STP) capacities at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur and Rourkela is unsatisfactory. In these cities, urgent action is required to ensure full capacity utilisation." It said that around 26.58 Lakh MT of legacy waste was yet to be remediated by 33 ULB in the state.

The tribunal also said there was no proper explanation regarding the details of the EC amount being transferred to the ring-fenced account.

The tribunal sought fresh reports from both states and posted the matter for considering Odisha's report on April 28, 2025, and Gujarat's report on July 22.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.