Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday sought answers from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation over mounting garbage across the city, questioning what action was taken against contractors who failed to discharge their duties.Hearing a suo motu PIL on urban waste management based on various media reports, Justices Anil Kilor and Raj Wakode expressed dissatisfaction with the overall system of garbage collection and disposal. The bench directed the civic body to file a detailed reply within two weeks, addressing segregation, collection capacity and enforcement measures.“Is waste segregation not happening? Do you have a shortage of garbage collection vehicles? If contractors are not performing as expected, what action do you take against them?” the court orally asked during the hearing.The judges noted that heaps of garbage were visible in several localities, including Ramdaspeth, Dhantoli, Trimurti Nagar, Ganeshpeth, Mahal, Sitabuldi, Subhash Nagar, IT Park Road, Bharat Nagar, Sakkardara, Ram Nagar and Chitnispura, raising concerns about public health risks.The court was informed that NMC entrusted the responsibility of garbage collection and transportation to two private companies. The civic body spent more than ₹8 crore per month, amounting to nearly ₹100 crore annually, on waste management. Despite this expenditure, the bench observed that visible accumulation of garbage in residential areas indicated systemic shortcomings.Yashowardhan Sambre appeared as amicus curiae, Sudhir Puranik represented NMC, and Ravi Sanyal held brief for the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.The court asked the NMC to clarify the status of waste segregation, adequacy of collection vehicles and mechanism for penalising defaulting contractors, signalling closer judicial scrutiny of civic sanitation in the coming weeks.
