Around 200 people, including members of various citizens’ groups from Gurugram, Faridabad and villages near the Bandhwari landfill, attended the public hearing by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board on Tuesday seeking objections to the setting up of a 25MW waste-to-energy plant.
Among the citizens’ groups, the members of Aravalli Bachao, Citizens for Clean Air and NCR Waste Matters Citizens Action and Awareness Group were present and spoke at the public hearing. The members of the Aravalli Bachao group demanded that the public hearing be declared null and void as it was in violation of the rules since the copy of the Environmental Impact Assessment report was not made public 30 days before the hearing as required by the law.
“We want a sustainable city to live in. Cities like Indore, Ambikapur in Chattisgarh, Kerala towns are managing their waste without creating toxic waste-to-energy plants and are creating wealth by waste recovery. We want the authorities sitting here to call a roundtable of active citizens of Gurugram and Faridabad and solid waste management experts from around the country to discuss sustainable models for Gurugram and Faridabad to make these cities model cities,” said Neelam Ahluwalia of the Aravalli Bachao citizens’ group.
Aravallis Bacho Citizens’ Group, in an eight-point objection to the project argued that site for the proposed plant was a wildlife-rich zone and was in the eco-sensitive Aravali belt which sustains life in the National Capital Region. It said that the site was close to Mangar Bani, the NCR’s last remaining patch of original Aravali native forest.
It objected to the plant saying that the environment clearance received in November 2019 from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the waste-to-energy plant (15 MW capacity) was obtained by submitting “false” information in the Environment Impact Assessment and needs to be revoked, the waste at Bandhwari landfill was unfit to be burnt for generating power and such plants were non-viable, flouted environmental law and caused pollution.
Environmental damage
The NCR Waste Matters Citizens’ Action and Awareness Group’s major objection was that the burning of mixed inert waste was only going to cause more environmental damage in the ecologically sensitive area of the Aravalis with over 219 species of birds in the neighbouring Mangar Bani.
The Citizens for Clean Air said that such a decision would be an anti-public health act by the State government as the consequences of this plant on human health and on the Aravalli ecosystem be enormous and irreparable.
