Waste dumping near visually impaired school: NGT upholds fine
National Green Tribunal
upheld a Rs 25 lakh fine against
Municipal Corporation of Delhi
for causing environmental harm to visually impaired students at a school in west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar.
A dhalao (garbage collection point) run by MCD outside Akhil Bhartiya Nitrahin Sangh School was a source of suffering for decades as the waste often spilled onto the road and near the school's main gate, posing health risks to students.
The dhalao was closed last year, but the NGT said the fine holds MCD accountable for years of civic apathy.
In May 2024, the tribunal took suo moto cognisance of a media report on garbage dumps near a school for the visually impaired. Akhil Bhartiya Netrahin Sangh, which came up in 1971, has been offering free education and accommodation to over 100 visually impaired students every year.
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In an order dated Nov 29, NGT imposed environmental compensation on MCD for illegally dumping solid waste in the vicinity of the school.
However, the civic body argued that the dhalao was shut down in Nov last year.
The tribunal, in its order dated Aug 5, said the MCD had no grounds to question the compensation amount and that there was 'no error' in directing the civic body to pay Rs 25 lakh for the upkeep of the school.
"The dhalao was closed just four days before the delivery of the judgment. Even closure of the dhalao will have no effect on the matter because the environmental compensation has been imposed upon the respondent — MCD — for past violations. In the review application, MCD admitted that the dhalao came into existence in 1984-85, much after the Akhil Bhartiya Nitrahin Sangh school was established in 1971, thereby the visually impaired students have suffered the agony and environmental harms for several decades," said the bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava.
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