New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has observed that "there is no progress at the ground level" regarding solid and liquid waste management in Bihar.
The green tribunal, which is monitoring the progress of sewage and solid waste management in all states and Union territories, had in May 2023 imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 4,000 crore on Bihar.
In an order passed on October 22, a bench of National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted that Bihar had filed its progress report dated October 18.
"We have examined the report filed by the chief secretary in compliance with the earlier order of the tribunal. It is apparent that the compliance report has not been properly presented and there is no progress at the ground level," the order said.
The bench -- also comprising Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member A Senthil Vel -- said there was a "huge gap" of 1,102 million litres per day (MLD) in sewage treatment.
"There is grave uncertainty in achieving 100 per cent treatment of sewage, which is a clear violation of the Supreme Court's (2017) order concerning liquid waste management," it said.
The tribunal said Bihar did not furnish data about its eight operational sewage treatment plants (STPs). In state capital Patna, 116 MLD waste was being discharged without being treated.
"The report clearly discloses the grim status that urban local bodies (ULBs) do not have proper sewage management facilities. Places like Gaya, Darbhanga, Purnia, Sasaram, Katihar, Buxar and others do not have proper sewage management facilities," the tribunal said.
Regarding solid waste management, the tribunal noted a gap of 3,910 tonnes per day (TPD) in waste processing.
It said, "We find that 55 ULBs do not have any waste processing facility and there is no explanation of how such a minuscule level, like 0.02 TPD of waste, is processed (in Maner Nagar Parishad)."
The tribunal further said there was no progress in remediating around 26.78 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste.
There is also no clarity regarding depositing the environmental compensation in a separate dedicated ring-fenced bank account, it added.
"Let a fresh action taken report be filed by the state of Bihar," the tribunal said and added that the deficiencies and gaps had to be addressed in a time-bound manner and the chief secretary must entrust responsibility, fix accountability and monitor progress regularly.
The matter has been posted for considering the state's next report on July 28, 2025.