Gurugram, April 20 -- The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that only four of nine solid waste management clusters covering 87 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state have obtained required permissions for scientific waste disposal, officials said on Saturday. In its compliance report filed before the NGT's principal bench on Friday, the board said a state-level Special Task Force with senior administrative and police officials from all 22 districts has been conducting inspections and imposed penalties of Rs.52.36 crore on 16 urban local bodies and eight private agencies since 2023. The HSPCB stated that the compliant clusters have adopted door-to-door collection, segregation at source and sustainable disposal. "The Sonepat-Panipat cluster and Karnal-Kaithal-Thanesar clusters have obtained authorisation under the Solid Waste Management Rules for the Consent to Operate permissions under the Water and Air Acts . the remaining clusters are currently under the tendering stage," the response said. Major penalties include Rs.16.01 crore on the Municipal Council, Mandi Dabwali; Rs.9 crore on MC Panchkula; Rs.7 crore on the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for leachate mismanagement; Rs.4.21 crore on MC Palwal; and Rs.2.24 crore on the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, the letter, seen by HT, stated. A senior MCG official, asking not to be named, said: "A new tender of around Rs.728 crore will also include provisions of four new trommel machines of 300 tonnes per day each. Gaps have been identified in doubling the collection capacity from 352 to 700 vehicles." In Rewari, HSPCB imposed a Rs.25,000 penalty on the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) for failing to prevent illegal waste burning near Mini Secretariat. Prakash Yadav, a resident and social worker in Rewari, said: "Several such government lands across Haryana witness frequent C&D dumping and waste fires. Despite state-wide directions reiterated by NGT in January 2026 prohibiting dumping, poor enforcement of waste management rules continues." Meanwhile, a senior HSVP official said, "Investigations will be carried out to find the root cause of dumping on government land."...