Pleas oppose landfill sites on Yamuna floodplains

Separate pleas moved by AAP spokesperson, suspended MLA Kapil Mishra

Kapil Mishra

In two separate petitions, the AAP spokesperson and suspended AAP MLA Kapil Mishra moved applications in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) opposing the DDA in-principle approval to two alternative landfill sites on the Yamuna floodplains.

The pleas sought directions from the NGT to restrain the DDA from allotting land at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran.

Harmful to ecosystem

The plea filed by AAP spokesperson Dilip K. Pandey read: “This apparent mindless setting up of a landfill site just adjacent to the Yamuna, a natural water resource, will affect the integrity of flora and fauna of the water resource. This will affect the overall ecology of the area, which will result in bad health condition of the people living near the allotted land.”

He said the AAP will launch a “struggle to ensure that people living in those areas do not suffer due to this process of allocation”.

Mr. Mishra, in his plea, alleged that the EDMC had “mislead” the NGT. “There is no doubt that the proposed sites in Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran are in the active floodplain of the Yamuna and therefore, in any case, the said proposal cannot be permitted on the sites in question as the same would be in violation under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016,” read Mr. Mishra’s plea.