Delhi University was on 1st March fined Rs 1 lac by the Central Board of Pollution Control. It was penalized for burning waste in its East Delhi Campus. While the university was slapped a fine for poor waste management, the other campuses around Delhi are working towards managing their waste properly.
Universities, notably Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Technology and Jamia Millia Islamia have been doing well managing waste, probably because they are residential campuses.
JNU transports its non-biodegradable waste outside campus for dumping at a designated site in south Delhi as there is no waste-to-energy plant on campus. JNU has recently developed a Swachh JNU app in collaboration with ISRO( Indian Space Research Organisation). This app lets residents inform about waste so that the campus can be kept clean.
IIT Delhi, spread over 325 acres, is divided into four zones where students, faculty members and other staff reside. Deepti Gupta, associate dean of infrastructure, said IIT started its own waste management programme in October last year. The waste in the campus is collected from 1,600 houses and 13 hostels.
Jamia, with its 11 hostels, produces over 4,000kg waste daily. It segregates it and produces over 1,000 cubic feet of manure, said Ahmed Azeem, the media coordinator of Jamia Millia Islamia. He added that six dumping trucks conduct the operation on a daily basis, which is then segregated by the sanitation department. “The non-biodegradable waste is sent to Jindal waste-to-energy management and the biodegradable waste is sent to the seven compost pits in our campus which produce manure,” Azeem added.
With the amount of solid waste increasing daily in the city, landfills are are overflowing with waste in Delhi. Delhi University, being one of the esteemed universities of the country , should spread awareness regarding waste management. It should also not promote unsuitable waste disposal methods.
