Pune: National Green Tribunal (NGT), after ordering an inquiry into the July 8 Moshi landfill collapse that claimed nine lives, has constituted a three-member joint committee to investigate alleged environmental and safety violations. The panel will inspect the site and submit a factual report along with an action-taken report within a month.The committee has a representative each from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control Board and the Pune district collectorate.The order came while hearing an application filed by Sudarshan Kelgane through lawyer Asim Sarode, seeking an investigation into the cause of the garbage mound collapse at the waste-to-energy plant.It was passed by a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh, judicial member, and expert member Sujit Kumar Bajpayee. The plea sought an inquiry into the tragedy, alleging that it was due to the failure to ensure scientific management, stabilisation, monitoring, and safe handling of municipal solid waste and legacy waste, thereby posing a serious threat to human life, public health, and the environment.The petition alleged that the incident reflected prima facie violations of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and the Solid Waste Management Rules. It claimed that Antony Lara Renewable Energy Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Antony Waste Handling Cell Ltd, which operates the plant for Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation under a public-private partnership model, failed to comply with conditions laid down in the Consent to Establish issued by the MPCB on Aug 16, 2019, for the incineration-based technology project.Admitting the application, the tribunal in its July 21 order observed, “We find that a substantial question relating to the environment is made out in the present original application. Therefore, we deem it appropriate to admit it.”The NGT issued notices to the PCMC, the plant operator, the MPCB and the CPCB, directing them to file their replies within four weeks.The petition also alleged that the administrative building, which collapsed after a garbage mound collapsed on it, was illegally constructed and located barely 12m from the landfill, in violation of prescribed norms. It further contended that had the approved incineration-based technology been implemented effectively, the accumulation of waste at the site would not have reached the extent that led to the disaster.In the aftermath, municipal commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi said the building had approval only for a ground floor, while the first and second floors were allegedly constructed without permission. Police subsequently registered an FIR against the WTE operator’s project head and safety officer on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, while the PCMC suspended its chief engineer and executive engineer from the environment department pending inquiry.
