NGT Fines SMC Rs 72.62 Crore, 11 Lakh MT Legacy Waste from Achan Dump Site to be Cleared

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government has admitted that unscientific dumping of solid waste at Srinagar’s Achan site has continued for years, prompting the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to impose a penalty of Rs 72.62 crore on the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for violations under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The disclosure came in response to questions raised by legislator Mubarak Gul, who sought details of dumping sites, health hazards, and the government’s failure to implement scientific waste management across the Union Territory. The government confirmed that around 550 tonnes of garbage are dumped daily at the Achan site, leading to persistent foul smell and reported health and environmental hazards in the surrounding areas.

Officials acknowledged that both the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had repeatedly raised concerns about the long-term health impact of the unscientific dumping. The NGT, in its March 2025 order in the case filed by environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat, had directed action against SMC officers for nearly 1,800 days of violation.

The government said the primary reason for the violation was the non-functioning of the waste processing centre at Achan, resulting in continued open dumping. A list of officers who have served in the SMC since 2017-18 has been shared with the JKPCC, which has filed complaints under the Environment Protection Act and the Water Act, 1974, before the Adjudicating Officer in Jammu and Kashmir.

In its written reply, the Housing and Urban Development Department said that SMC has now initiated a comprehensive plan to achieve one hundred per cent scientific waste management and gradually reduce dependency on the landfill site.

Key steps include bio-mining and bio-remediation of approximately 11 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste, scheduled for completion by March 2028. Construction of a 125-tonne-per-day (TPD) waste processing plant is in progress, along with new facilities for a 459 TPD Material Recovery Facility (MRF), a 300 TPD Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) plant, and a 300 TPD Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plant under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 and City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) 2.0.

Other initiatives include the creation of three decentralised garbage transfer stations with a combined capacity of 367.22 TPD, localised composting units, and leachate treatment and anti-odour control systems. The department added that more than 3,200 trees have been planted to form a green buffer around the site as part of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, which aims to eliminate open dumping and ensure full scientific processing by 2027.