by pallavi
Everyone
talking about development, but what kind of development the country needs. We
need a sustainable growth in social, economic and political sector. Development
doesn’t means that we snatch livelihood of tribal people, framers land for the
sake of capitalist and urban development. Today we have seen that government
has given permission to many plants and projects in public area which are
destroying not only our environment but it is risky for public health also.
Here I am talking about the Okhla municipal waste incinerator plant. Many
hazardous pollutants and dioxins are emerging from the plant. People in the
locality complain about the eye irritation and breathing difficulties. Residents
have repeatedly complained to Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control board(
DPCC) about excessive pollution released daily by the plant. But no one cares.
Even Such technologies have been supported by both BJP and Congress
in Delhi with total disregard towards their public health consequences.
When Delhi chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal was given a copy of a letter written to the Central Pollution Control
Board (CPCB) chairman demanding answers to 21 issues surrounding the
controversial plant, including illegal siting in a residential area and failure
to control toxic emissions ever since the plant began operation two years
ago. After looking into the matter Arvind Kejriwal assured a delegation of
Sukhdev Vihar residents from Okhla, South Delhi district that the
polluting incinerator based waste-to-energy plant being operated close to
residential areas, would be shut down. This brings a new ray of hope in
public domain.
This highly controversial
plant of Timarpur-Okhla has been running by a company of M/s Jindal Saw
Group Limited using an unapproved and untested Chinese technology with
impunity.
The location of this hazardous incinerator plant is surrounded by New
Friends Colony, Nehru Place, Kalkaji, Abul Fazal Enclave, Sukhdev Vihar,
Greater Kailash, Govindpuri, Sriniwaspuri, Tughlakabad, Sarita Vihar, Jasola,
Shaheen Bagh, Jaitpur, Madanpur, Badarpur,Zakir Nagar, Okhla Vihar, Ghaffar
Manzil Colony,hazi colony, Batla House and Harkesh Nagar. It is in the
proximity of Okhla Sanctuary, a Bird Park and Wildlife Sanctuary,
where during the month of September thousands of migratory birds including
shovellers, pintail, common teal, gadwall and blue winged teal visit the area.
This plant is in the vicinity Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and
Escort Heart Hospital, Al-shifa Multi Speciality Hospital, Holy Family
Hospital, M.A Ansari Health Center and public gardens like Kalindi Kunj, Okhla
Head, the most famous public garden close to the river of Yamuna. Delhi Ride
Park also open in kalindi kunj park. This plant is disturbing and creating
pollution in all these areas.
The letter given to the CPCB has presented indisputable
facts about violations of all the rules in the rule book in violation of the ‘battery limit’ set by the Ministry of
Environment and Forests for such polluting industries. Delhi Urban Arts
Committee (DUAC) never cleared the project given the proximity to marble
monuments like the Bahai temple and Humayun’s tomb which are vulnerable to acid
rain.
This plant is located extremely close to several educational
and research institutions -– the Central Road Research Institute, the Institute
of Genomics and Integrative Biology, the Indraprastha Institute of Information
Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia and several schools.
Former environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, also visit the
plant and wrote to former chief minister Sheila Dikshit pointing out several
irregularities such as the failure to take the public into confidence in the
prescribed manner. Notably, tests ordered by the National Green Tribunal have
shown Dioxins, a dangerously toxic substance released by incineration, to be
several times more than permissible limits. The burning of waste results in the
release of a cocktail of pollutants – SOx, NOx, SPM, RSPM, dioxins, furans and
heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury (from batteries and CFLs). But
knowing all the facts the previous government ignore the issue.
In a letter to Delhi Chief
Minister dated 16 February, 2015, Toxics Watch Alliance (TWA), had
demanded that “AAP Government should abandon hazardous waste incinerator based
power plant in Okhla and adopt zero waste philosophy for decentralized
management of municipal waste.”
Meanwhile, National
Human Rights Commission(NHRC) is pursuing the Case No. 8296/30/10/2014
filed by TWA which has been campaigning against this toxic Dioxins
emitting plant since 2005 and is pursuing a case against the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) against toxic threat from municipal waste
incinerator plants in Okhla, Narela-Bawana and Ghazipur.
It is relevant to recall
that Delhi High Court's judgment dated January 15, 2013 established the health
impacts from the incinerator based on existing medical literature. The High
Court judgment refers to 'The summary of "Epidemiological Studies on
Adverse Health Effects Associated with Incineration" would show that
medical waste incinerators are a leading source of dioxins and mercury in the
environment and there is link between incinerator emissions and adverse health
impacts on incinerator workers and residents living around incinerator.
In such a backdrop, Delhi
chief minister’s assurance made the residents and environmental groups quite
hopeful. Huma Hashim the community leader and a resident of Sukhdev Vihar said,
they are extremely happy with the chief minister's positive response to a
horrendous situation in Sukhdev Vihar where people are being poisoned with
toxic gases on a daily basis.
According to the doctors,
judges and residents the toxic emissions from such plants have been linked to
cancers, respiratory ailments and birth defects. That’s why Toxic Watch
Alliance is demanding that the waste incinerators plants should be shut down
for good because shifting it to another location is not a permanent solution, a
polluting unit of factory does not make it non-polluting.
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