Deep Disconnect Between Reported Data On Waste Management & Ground Reality Across States: NGT

New Delhi: In the wake of a slew of directives by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to several states over solid and liquid waste management, environmentalists on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the deficiencies the Tribunal found in the reports submitted by respective states, and called for proper waste management.

They hailed the Tribunal's directive and asserted that this could help address the widening gap between reported compliance and actual ground-level outcomes.

Several states are under the Tribunal's scanner over waste management, with Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal the latest to be pulled up. The NGT's recent note raises questions on reliability of reported data on solid and liquid waste management submitted by the states.

The Tribunal is overseeing compliance of all states and Union Territories (UTs) with regulations regarding solid and sewage waste management, as per orders of the Supreme Court (SC).

Environmentalists Demand Accountability

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Prakriti Srivastava, a retired Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer, said, "The NGT's decision of imposing strict monitoring and tracking on states for unreliable waste management data, demanding accountability for clearing traditional dumpsites and sewage treatment, is a welcome step. If implemented, this will enhance administrative transparency, protect public health, and reduce toxic pollution."

Another environmentalist, Anil Gupta, emphasised strict monitoring of waste management by the states and UTs. Referring to the Solid Waste Management Rules, Gupta told ETV Bharat, "The Solid Waste Management Rules are applicable all over the country. All states have to implement these, and their procedures."

"It has been seen that states, while receiving information from urban local bodies (ULBs)... to compile the data and submit it to concerned departments... are not actually verifying the data," he said.

Gupta, who is also a member of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), said, "We have seen visible violations in the disposal of solid waste, like in the case of Delhi-NCR and other northen states. So, a state must enforce the rules and regulation of solid waste management." He said states and UTs must physically verify data before submitting it to the NGT.

'Deep Disconnect Between Numbers On Paper & Ground Reality'

Expressing concern over the matter, environmentalist Tannuja Chauhan asserted that the Tribunal's findings expose a deeply problematic disconnect between the numbers reported on paper and the reality on the ground. "When data on waste generation and management infrastructure is based on unverified information supplied by ULBs, we risk managing an environmental crisis through assumptions rather than facts. This can ultimately prove disastrous at many levels," she told ETV Bharat.

Chauhan further said if we do not accurately know how much waste is being generated, segregated, collected, treated and disposed, then how can we claim to manage it properly and in line with environmental laws. She opined that when ULBs that have no functioning sewage-treatment facilities, and hundreds of millions of litres of raw sewage continue to enter rivers and water bodies, it is a stark failure of implementation at the authorities' end.

"I'm glad NGT has intervened. This should not only be seen as a direction to improve compliance, but a call to fundamentally improve how environmental data is collected, verified and acted upon. It is high time this gets strictly implemented across the country," she said.

Echoing her sentiments, environmentalist B S Vohra said the NGT’s recent observations underscore an urgent need to shift from reported compliance to verified compliance, where government claims are independently validated through ground inspections, geo-tagged evidence, actual capacity utilisation and measurable outcomes.

"The gaps stem from inaccurate or inconsistent reporting, equating installed capacity with actual treatment, inadequate sewer connectivity, under-utilised facilities, fragmented institutional accountability and weak ground-level monitoring. India needs outcome-based verification, independent audits, and not the compliance that exists merely on paper," he told ETV Bharat.

NGT To Madhya Pradesh

During the recent hearing regarding compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and management of liquid waste in Madhya Pradesh, the Principal Bench of the NGT said it has examined the affidavit filed by the state's Chief Secretary. "We found the entire status on solid and liquid waste management is based on data provided by the 413 ULBs, without any field checks being carried out," the Principal Bench, comprising the NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, pointed out in its order.

The Tribunal asked for verification of the data by District Collectors/District Magistrates across the state.

On solid waste management, the Bench said that it found the state to have made attempts to ensure that no gap exists in waste processing in all 413 ULBs. However, it pointed out deficiencies. The bench observed that the state generates 8,467.87 TPD (tonnes per day) of solid waste and processes 8,412.48 TPD, leaving a nominal gap of 55.39 TPD.

On liquid waste management, the NGT said, "Out of 413 ULBs in the state, 352 ULBs generate 584.81 MLD (million litres per day), and none of them have any treatment facilities. "

NGT To West Bengal

Earlier this month, the NGT Principal Bench, while hearing a matter relating to West Bengal, pulled up the state government over serious gaps in solid and liquid waste management. The Tribunal noted that the state has been slow in addressing existing gaps, despite repeated directions.

The Tribunal directed that steps involved in solid waste management with respect to segregation, collection, transportation, processing and disposal should be in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, that waste segregation should be intensified by all 128 ULBs in the state, and that the next report should disclose the extent of coverage in quantified form.

Similarly, for liquid waste management, the state should provide a time-bound action plan with budgetary support for filling gaps in sewage treatment in each ULB.

WB Minister Blames Previous Governments

In response to ETV Bharat's query over the matter, West Bengal Minister for Municipal Affairs and Urban Development, Agnimitra Paul, blamed Left Front and Trinamool Congress (TMC) governments in the past.

"For 15 years under the TMC, and 34 years of Left rule before that, nothing was done regarding waste processing or waste management in the state. We have been in office for only 110 days, yet we started thinking about this from Day 1. The tender process is underway; and will be finalised within a few days," she said from Asansol.

She added, "In this regard, responsibility will be distributed among several agencies, as this is a massive undertaking across Bengal. Contracts were awarded to various agencies in the past as well, but the work was not executed properly. Even now, mountains of garbage and waste remain piled up everywhere. We cannot rush it; the processing must be carried out carefully and effectively."

Asked about an expected timeline for achieving full compliance across all ULBs, Paul said, "Nothing was done for 15 years. We have stated that by 2027, we'll clear all 'legacy waste' — such as the mountain-like piles of garbage one sees upon entering Asansol — which is beyond recycling. The situation here reflects the state of affairs across West Bengal. Once these are completely cleared, and fresh waste arrives — segregated at source into wet and dry waste — we will process it to produce organic manure, biogas, and plastic materials to be used for road construction."

She added, "Everyone says 'waste is wealth', but where was this ever considered in West Bengal? Today, under the leadership and direction of the Hon'ble Chief Minister, we are addressing this; no one had thought about it until now."

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