HC panel to identify land for waste disposal

Delhi High Court set up a committee to identify and study feasibility of land, environment clearance and methodology of land acquisition for the disposal of municipal solid waste. The move by the court comes after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) failed to find an alternative site for the purpose. The committee would comprise senior officers of the land owning agency DDA, trifurcated civic agencies (MCDs), land and building department of the Delhi government and its departments of environment and urban development. The court also asked the committee to meet on May 28 under the supervision of Urban Development Secretary of the state government. The court instructed the committee to hold meetings every two weeks and sought the minutes of meetings by July 5, the next date of hearing of the case. DDA came under attack from the court for delaying the identification of land for the project. It may be noted that earlier the Supreme Court laid down a three-month timeline for DDA to make alternative land available. However, three years have passed since then. In their affidavits, the corporations had blamed DDA for creating such a situation as it had failed to allot land.