Alarm over landfill in Yamuna plain
DISASTER? Despite a CPCB nod, the proposed site in Ghonda Gujran and Sonia Vihar raise concern over damage to river
NEWDELHI: Despite a clean chit by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), environmental concerns over the proposed landfill site at Ghonda Gujran and Sonia Vihar in the Yamuna floodplain have not abated.
East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) had been looking for an alternative site to dump the 2,800 tonnes of municipal solid waste that the area generates daily. The efforts by the civic body were expedited after two people were killed in Ghazipur when a portion of the landfill collapsed in September last year.
The proposed landfills have triggered protest from activists and experts who claim that Delhi would be committing its ‘gravest mistakes’ if it allows dumping grounds to come up on the floodplains of the Yamuna. The officials, however, say these won’t be traditional dumping sites which could harm floodplain.
HT visited the two sites and spoke to experts, activists, authorities and local residents to find out what could be the consequences if the EDMC goes ahead with the decision.
BIRTH OF A PROBLEM
Initially, 150 acres of land belonging to DDA at Ghonda Gujran was identified for setting up a landfill site. “We had approached DDA for land to set up a facility to manage waste soon after trifurcation of the MCD. After NGT’S intervention, DDA had offered us 150 acres at Ghonda Gujran,” said EDMC commissioner Ranbir Singh.
Problems surfaced when the Ngt-appointed principal committee rejected it in October 2016.
“We are open to establishing the engineered landfill anywhere provided we are given adequate land. After the incident at Ghazipur landfill, we started dumping waste at Rani Khera in northwest Delhi on L-G’S direction. But we had to stop after protests by the local residents,” said a senior EDMC official.
The NGT panel rejected EDMC’S plea again in October 2017, on the grounds that the 100acre site falls in the floodplains.
“The committee recommended that EDMC may explore an alternate location as the proposed site lies within the 10- year floodplain zone of river Yamuna and has potential to create damage to the river ecology and ecosystem,” said one of the principal committee members, who refused to be named, citing sensitivity of the matter.
The EDMC identified another site at Sonia Vihar where DDA offered 130 acres of land. The NGT instructed the CPCB to conduct the suitability assessment of the land. It had declared 88 acres at Sonia Vihar and 50 at Ghonda Gujran suitable for solid waste management, processing and disposal facility. Last week, the Supreme Court took cognizance of the issue and directed stay on the NGT order, said an official.
LOCATION AND STATUS
Both the sites fall in east Delhi. As one travels along the Pushta Road one could see large swathes of land. While Ghonda Gujran is close to New Usmanpur, the site at Sonia Vihar is near the camps of the Rapid Action Force.
Illegal activities such as sand mining and extracting groundwater are rampant in these areas. All along the road, one could see locals dumping waste and shanties in some other portions.
EDMC apprehends that if these plots are left vacant, they would be usurped by land sharks.
Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 state that landfill sites shall not be permitted within the floodplains, wetland, critical habitat areas, and eco-fragile areas.
“According to the DDA’S master plan, both Ghonda Gujran and Sonia Vihar falls under the O zone which comprises the floodplains. The Sonia Vihar site was under flood waters in 2008, 2010 and 2013,” said Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, who has shot letters to the L-G and the Delhi Chief Minister, urging them to stall the decision.
He said apart from this there are both orders by the NGT and notifications by the union water resources ministry, which doesn’t allow any construction activity or dumping of waste on the river’s floodplains.
However, EDMC official said that the so called ‘floodplain’ which has developed into pushta, is already home to thousands of households. “At least 30,000 houses have been constructed on these pushtas,” he said.
LIKELY CONSEQUENCES
Terming it a ‘myopic decision’, scientists have warned that a landfill site in the floodplains would further constrict the river and increase the danger of floods.
“The leachate from the bottom of the landfill could also contaminate the groundwater,” said A K Gosain a professor of civil engineering at IIT Delhi.
EDMC, however, maintained the place won’t be developed as a traditional landfill. “It will be an integrated state-of-the-art waste management facility and no unprocessed garbage will be dumped here. We will use it for processing inert waste. For safety purposes, it will have leachate proofing,” said Ranbir Singh, EDMC commissioner.
CR Babu, ecologist, said the contaminants from the landfill site would also destroy the ecology of the floodplains. Several microorganisms which held to keep the river water clean could be lost, he warned.
“The Yamuna floodplain is one of the two pristine ground water recharging zones of Delhi, the other being the Ridge. Sonia Vihar in particular was found to contain one of the best groundwater sources in Delhi,” said Shashank Sekhar a professor of geology with Delhi University.
Local residents, both i n Ghonda Gujran and Sonia Vihar, have warned of protests if the EDMC goes ahead the plan.
“This is a densely populated area. How can they take such a decision? The river is also nearby. We are concerned about the future of this area and our children,” said Raj Choudhury a resident of Garhi Mandu village.
OPTIONS BEFORE EDMC
Municipal authorities claimed to have started raising demand for additional sites for processing solid waste in late 1990s.“the Supreme Court had even directed the DDA in 2000 to provide us land for waste disposal. To deal with increasing solid waste generated from neighbourhoods, we established waste to energy plants at Ghazipur, Okhla and Narela Bawana,” said MCD official.
But experts said the civic agencies never concentrated on treating waste at the community level. “They always look for shortcuts to process garbage such as burning them at waste to energy plants. Even months after the notification of bylaws for solid waste management in the city, none of the three civic agencies has established a de-centralised model for treating garbage,” said Chitra Mukherjee of Chintan, an NGO which works on waste management problem.
Several activists have written to the government demanding a roll back of the decision.