The municipal corporation (MC) has assured the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) that it would make all efforts to process and dispose of the mixed waste lying at the Dadumajra dumping site by November 15.
The assurance was given during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Amit Sharma highlighting the poor disposal of legacy waste at the site. During the hearing, Sharma opposed the repeated extensions, submitting that successive affidavits had provided timelines for resolution since the beginning of the proceedings, yet the issue remained unresolved. Sharma also drew the court’s attention to the recent CBI arrest in connection with alleged demands for bribes for clearing a bill relating to a landfill-associated project. During the hearing, the bench observed that the matter was serious and needed to be brought to a close. It noted that the corporation had already been afforded sufficient time to address the difficulties involved in clearing the dumping ground and that the matter could not continue indefinitely. The matter will be taken up again in November.
Appearing for the MC, senior advocate Gaurav Mohunta relied upon the civic body’s affidavit and submitted that the corporation would make all efforts to clear the mixed waste by November 15. The affidavit comes following the September 30 HC order, seeking clear facts before the court, including the corporation’s position on allegations of waste being dumped elsewhere and the time required to clear the entire accumulated waste at Dadumajra. He referred to the court’s decision to summon the then MC commissioner personally in May 2022 and argued that the continuing discrepancies between official assurances and the position on the ground warranted scrutiny.
