NGT refuses to interfere with work on solid waste facility in Ghaziabad

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has refused to interfere with the ongoing construction of a solid waste facility in Jhandapur, Sahibabad, but have directed the formation of a joint committee of officials to give a “personal hearing” to the petitioner in the case.

Petitioner Haji Arif, a resident of Ghaziabad, had moved the tribunal challenging the upcoming solid waste facility on a plot measuring about 5.845 acres. Arif contended that the solid waste transfer station is coming up on public land reserved for park/open spaces and it is in close proximity to a school, the Hindon airbase, and Jhandapur village that has about 25,000 residents.

According to the officials of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation, the land is selected for development of a solid waste transfer station where the daily solid waste from localities such as Kaushambi, Vaishali, Vasundhara and Jhandapur will be collected and compressed for further transport to a waste processing site.

The tribunal while disposing of the petition on March 6 refused to interfere with the site for waste management.

“We are of the view that the generated solid waste is required to be duly processed at the earliest and nearest to the place of generation, in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. In the absence of a better alternative, location of such facility close to habitation and other such establishments may be at times be unavoidable,” the tribunal said.

“Thus, beyond directing strict compliance of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and consideration of all available alternatives by the statutory regulators, we are unable to interfere with the site for waste management,” it further said.

The transfer station is one of five such facilities being developed in the Ghaziabad municipal corporation area. The transfer stations have the capacity to hold about 150-200 metric tonnes of daily solid waste. According to officials, the door-to-door collection vehicles bring in daily waste to transfer stations where the waste is compressed and further taken in containers to a processing facility in Morta.

“Transfer stations are being developed to collect and compress the solid waste before they are taken to a waste processing site. These stations are closed facilities. The site was illegally occupied by a banquet hall which was demolished last year. The site was selected as there is a scarcity of land for solid waste activities. We will comply with the directions of the tribunal,” said Nitin Gaur, municipal commissioner.

The tribunal also directed the formation of a joint committee of officials comprising the municipal commissioner, district magistrate and officials from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board for a “personal hearing” to be given to the petitioner within two months.

The transfer station in Jhandapur is likely to be ready by the end of March, officials said.

“It was my contention that dumping of solid waste from other localities will affect the the lives and environment of locals in Jhandapur. The facility is in the vicinity of a religious place and a school, besides being heavily populated. Such facilities in other localities are being met with stiff resistance. It is because people in Jhandapur are poor that their voices remain unheard. We approached the officials with our representation in November 2022 but there was no response,” Arif said.

The facility and the village are located in Sahibabad Site IV Industrial Area of Ghaziabad.