Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday told the Supreme Court that the garbage disposal crisis in the national Capital cannot be resolved overnight as the garbage mounds were a “legacy of six decades”, LiveLaw reported.

Baijal’s statement comes after a bench, headed by Justice Madan B Lokur, took a swipe at the lieutenant governor during a hearing on the matter on July 12. The court had said that Baijal claimed to be a “superman” but did nothing to address the worsening garbage disposal problem in Delhi. “You think you are a superman; I am responsible but nobody can touch me and I won’t do anything except blaming others,” the bench had said.

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An affidavit filed on behalf of the lieutenant governor said work to tackle the city’s garbage disposal problem in a time bound manner was under way. He said the action plan aimed at gradually closing the city’s overflowing landfill sites while making the mounds scientifically safe and visually better, LiveLaw reported. He also said that no untreated garbage will be dumped at the landfill sites after 2020.

On July 13, the court criticised Baijal after it was informed that no one from the lieutenant governor’s office attended the last three meetings to deal with Delhi’s growing garbage disposal crisis. The Supreme Court had earlier demanded to know who was the authority responsible for garbage management in Delhi. “Is it the office of the chief minister or lieutenant governor or the Centre?” it had asked.

While the Aam Aadmi Party leads the government in Delhi, all the civic bodies are under the control of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the last few years, there have been several instances sanitation workers going on strike for long periods to protest against unpaid wages among other things. As mounds of garbage piled up,AAP leaders blamed the BJP-led municipal corporations for the situation, while the BJP accused the Delhi government of “playing politics” and not releasing funds.