AMC may face legal action for not complying with NGT order

AGARTALA: The BJP-led Tripura government has warned Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC), where CPM is in power, of legal action for non-compliance with a National Green Tribunal (NGT) directive on solid waste management. As per the NGT directive, the state government had said that there should be 100% house-to-house garbage collection by March 31 this year. The state government had allocated funds to AMC for collection segregation and management of waste.But the AMC has missed the deadline.
Urban development department officials said that chief minister Biplab Deb has expressed his displeasure with AMC mayor, Dr Prafullajit Sinha, over his "failure" to comply with the government directive. AMC was asked to ensure cleanliness and sanitation in the city on an urgent basis as per the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The government has now warned AMC with legal action for the non-compliance with the directive, officials said.
Besides it's own revenue of Rs 22 crore, the state government had allocated an amount of Rs 71.62 crore in 2018-19 to AMC for continuing with the development work. But even after receiving such a huge grant from the state government, AMC has not been functioning properly as per the provisions of Tripura Municipal Act 1994, officials said.
An NGT bench in January this year has directed all the urban local bodies to ensure strict implementation of Solid waste Management Rules, 2016. Subsequently, AMC was instructed to ensure door-to-door collection of solid waste from each and every household along with source segregation, transportation and processing of waste in an effective manner.
AMC was asked to deploy willing members of women self help groups for door to door collection and source segregation of solid waste in all the wards as per the provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 formulated by the Centre and the Tripura Municipal (Management and Handling) Cleanliness and Sanitation Rules, 2019.