NGT notice to UP over waste burning near Anand Vihar
The lawyer of a petitioner told the court that huge stretches of dry grass were set on fire at Kaushambi recently
NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government and its civic bodies over alleged indiscriminate burning of municipal solid waste at Kaushambi area of Uttar Pradesh despite a ban in place.
The order came after advocate Sanjay Upadhyay mentioned the matter before the green court and said that huge stretches of dry grass were put on fire at Kaushambi near the Anand Vihar Metro station recently.
The lawyer, appearing for Vardhaman Kaushik who has filed a petition against deteriorating air quality in Delhi and NCR, submitted several photographs showing burning of waste at several places.
He said that despite various orders passed by the NGT and the undertakings given by the authorities, there was indiscriminate dumping and burning of municipal solid waste at various places.
A bench headed by acting NGT chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim then sought responses from the UP government, UP Pollution Control Board, Nagar Nigam Ghaziabad and others on the issue before May 3.
Imposing a complete ban on burning of waste in open includ- ing garbage, leaves, plastic and crop residues, the NGT had earlier said violators will be fined Rs 5,000. The green court had made it clear that its orders are to be complied with as a decree order of a civil court and all authorities including the police were duty bound to implement them.
On burning of plastic and similar products, the bench had issued directions to corporations and police authorities that “in no event they would permit burning of plastic or by-product in any part of Ncr-delhi”.
Burning of garbage releases dioxins, a kind of environmental pollutants, in the air. They belong to the so-called dirty dozen — a group of dangerous chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPS).
According to the World Health Organisation, dioxins are highly toxic. Experiments have shown they affect a num- ber of organs and systems if humans are exposed to prolonged exposure.
Burning waste also leads to an increased presence of chlorides in the air, which weakens the immune system, irritates lungs and causes respiratory disorders.
Biomass and waste burning accounts for 30% of Delhi’s pollution in winter, and 18% in summer, a recent Iit-kanpur study found.