The Punjab Pollution Control Board has come down heavily on the Amritsar Municipal Corporation for failing to clear nearly 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste piled up across an 11-acre dumpsite along Chabal Road.The matter was listed before the National Green Tribunal during the hearing of a public petition filed by a local.The tribunal informed the court that the civic body has been dumping mixed waste for years without any valid authorisation under the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, without any functional machinery to process or dispose of the legacy waste; and without any facility to handle toxic runoff that could seep into the ground.Chabhal Road is a busy corridor connecting Amritsar with Tarn Taran district. Stench emanating from the mounting garbage poses a serious health threat to people residing in nearby localities like Indra Colony, Shaheed Udham Singh Colony and Ibban Kalan.For skipping the hearing, the pollution board ordered the civic body to deposit an earlier environmental penalty of Rs 8 crore imposed from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2025, within 15 days. On the latter’s failure to do so, land revenue recovery procedures will be initiated. The board also filed a fresh complaint with the state environment secretary, seeking an increased penalty of up to Rs 8.90 crore.The civic body has been given 10 days to apply for mandatory waste management permits and two months to ensure full operational compliance.The pollution board has also written to top officials in the state local government department to flag the municipal body’s careless approach and seek intervention. In response, Municipal Commissioner Bikramjit Singh Shergill said the contract to process and clear the old garbage had already been assigned, adding that the entire plot would soon be cleaned up and recovered for productive public use.