The state government would appeal the National Green Tribunal’s order to keep aside Rs 3,500 crore in a separate account for waste management, municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim said on Saturday.
New projects that are being taken up to make waste management will stop if such a huge sum remains locked, Hakim said. It would be better if the National Green Tribunal (NGT) fixed deadlines for projects and the state would finish them within that time, he added.
In an order dated September 1, the tribunal had asked the state government to deposit the money in a ring-fenced account within two months.
The money in the account has to be “utilised for restoration measures, including preventing discharge of untreated sewage and solid waste treatment/processing facilities”, the tribunal had said.
The order mentioned that 10,418 tonnes of solid waste were dumped into dumping grounds every day without being processed.
Waste management experts said modern waste management demands that only the waste that cannot be recycled in any way or has no value in the recycling market should go to the waste dumping ground. Rest of the waste should be processed.
Metals and other non-biodegradable wastes can be recycled and made fit for other use. Biodegradable wastes can be used as raw material to produce manure and CNG.
The Kolkata municipal area generates 4,500 tonne of waste in a day but only 504 tonnes is processed, with the rest piling up on the Dhapa dumping ground.
The tribunal had also said in its order that 1,490 million litres of sewage remained untreated in the state every day.
On Saturday, Hakim said the state and the KMC were doing their bit to make the waste management system more efficient. “Wastes accumulated over 30 or 40 years cannot be managed in a day.... We are already taking steps to both improve the management of solid and liquid waste,” he said.
“We will appeal against the order. The NGT can impose deadlines on projects and we will comply. If such a huge sum of money has to be kept aside, new projects (of waste management) will stop...,” Hakim said.
He referred to the KMC mining wastes dumped in grounds over many years to reduce the volume of waste. The recyclable materials will be separated and the rest of the inert material will remain on the grounds, KMC officials said.