Ghaziabad’s Morta landfill moved after residents, Air Force object

OFFICIALS SAY BIRDS POSED A THREAT TO AIRCRAFT AROUND THE HINDON AIR BASE

GHAZIABAD: With residents of Raj Nagar Extension township and even the Hindon air force base objecting to the solid waste landfills site at Morta, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation will shift it to Galand near Dasna in a phased manner.

Raj Nagar Extension (RNE) residents said they approached various forums, including courts, to get the landfill sites that came up in and around the township over the last two years under the aegis of the corporation.

“Solid waste is dumped at Sikrod and near RNE, while another site is at RNE extension 2. The residents approached courts, as well as the National

Human Rights’ Commission with pleas for that such sites be removed as they have made the areas unhygienic. We will shortly move the National Green Tribunal too to ensure this is moved,” said Vikrant Sharma, a resident and a lawyer.

Ghaziabad municipal-corporation said that almost 200 metric tonnes (MT) of solid waste from Kavi Nagar and Vijay Nagar zones each are dumped at Morta daily for the last two years. Ghaziabad is estimated to generate 1,200 metric tonnes daily.

“With dumping vehicles from both zones now having easy access to national highway 9 (NH-9) that connects to Galand, we will now shift all waste that have been dumped there till now to a site there that was designated for a waste to energy plant. The process will take about a month or so, said Mithilesh Kumar, city health officer.

Municipal commissioner M S Tanwar said that the air force objected to the Morta site as it is just 6km from by air to the Hindon base.

“They said that during the days leading to air shows and even on other days, the birds that scavenge on the waste could cause strike the aircraft engines,” said Tanwar, adding that the construction of the waste-to-energy plant is likely to commence in November. “The other waste sites from RNE will also be shifted out in phases.”

Health officer Kumar said that they are constructing a garbage factory at Ret Mandi near Nandgram that will service 350 MT waste from Mohan Nagar zone. The factory has equipment to segregate and process waste.

“Around 200MT solid waste from city zone is going to another garbage factory at Sihani. while the waste from Vasundhara zone is getting processed at the landfill site at Indirapuram where legacy waste is also treated,” Kumar added.