India’s top environmental court has ordered the authorities to investigate whether the poop falling from the sky that has troubled people living near the international airport in Delhi for a long time, is human or bird excreta.
The National Green Tribunal last year ruled airlines dumping toilet waste in the air would cop out a fine of Rs 50,000 ($1,000), after a resident approached the court and informed the tribunal that his house was often splattered with large patches of excreta, alleging planes were dumping human waste over residential areas.
The tribunal on Friday directed a special committee that includes officials from India’s civil aviation authority, the central pollution control board and India’s Avian research institute to investigate the alleged poop samples and ascertain whether it was human poop or bird excreta, the reported.
The committee was asked to submit a report to the tribunal on Tuesday.
Last year, the NGT had directed India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation to carry out surprise inspections of aircrafts landing at the airport to check if the toilet tanks are emptied on residential areas while landing.
The toilets on a plane that store the human waste are created especially for the purpose, and are disposed of by ground crew once the plane lands, but aviation experts say that lavatory leaks can occur in the air at times.
Last year, a petition by a retired Lt. General of the Indian Army had sought hefty penalties against airlines for endangering the health of residents.
India’s Central Pollution Control Board had last year also analysed the samples of material splattered on the petitioner’s house and concluded it was excreta, but said the source of it was not known.
