NGT Notice To Ministry of Environment, Civic Bodies On Plea Against Landfill Sites In Delhi

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has sought response of the Centre and civic bodies here seeking cancellation of the approval granted by the DDA to allot land at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran areas to set up landfill sites. A bench headed by Acting Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim issued notice to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Delhi Development Authority, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, East Delhi Municipal Corporation and sought their reply before May 14, the next date of hearing.

The Supreme Court had on May 4 stayed the proceedings related to the landfill sites at Ghazipur and Bhalswa in Delhi pending before the tribunal. The tribunal’s notice came on a plea filed by Ghonda MLA Shri Dutt Sharma and others seeking a direction to restrain the DDA from allotting an area of 130 acres at Sonia Vihar and a 50-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran to the EDMC for handling and processing waste. The petition, filed through advocate Abhinav Singh, said that if the project is started by the EDMC for landfill sites at the two areas, it will adversely affect the ecosystem and the overall ecology since there are several densely populated colonies nearby. It said the approval given on the recommendation of the Central Pollution Control Board and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute was based on wrong facts and that it violated the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The petition sought a direction to the DDA to cancel the allotment of lands in question falling within the active floodplain of the Yamuna. It also asked for a direction to the authorities to conduct a cumulative impact study to record the status of ecology and environment in the two areas.