National Green Tribunal orders Himachal Pradesh to fix waste‑management gaps

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) criticised Himachal Pradesh for serious deficiencies in solid and liquid waste management, calling the state's compliance obligations “constitutional imperatives”. In a bench chaired by Justice Prakash Shrivastava, the tribunal noted missing data on water quality, sewage treatment plant outputs, sludge handling and reuse, as well as the lack of operational effluent treatment plants.

The NGT directed the Himachal government to submit a comprehensive report covering waste‑hotspot locations, progress on sewage treatment facilities and funding allocations to urban local bodies. It highlighted 295 waste hotspots, including 28 in Shimla, and warned that improper waste disposal threatens public health and the fragile Himalayan ecosystem that supplies water to the Indo‑Gangetic plains.

The tribunal’s order seeks to ensure that waste‑management measures are implemented promptly to protect the region’s biodiversity and the millions of people dependent on its rivers.