Supertech Emerald Court RWA raises dust concern

NOIDA: Residents of Emerald Court said on Monday they have written to the Noida Authority over the slow pace of debris removal from the Sector 93A society, which was ground zero of the twin towers’ demolition last month.

Sources said the debris – a total of 8,000 tonnes – had not been removed for the past week. The process to transport debris to the construction and demolition waste plant in Sector 80 began on September 11, but only 200 tonnes of rubble had been removed, they said.

“We are not facing any problem of dust pollution as such presently due to incessant rainfall over the past few days. But the situation will worsen as winter sets in. Earlier, some trucks were seen leaving the site, but now it has completely stopped. We have written to the Authority and are awaiting its action in the matter,” said UBS Teotia, Emerald Court RWA president.

Previously, experts too have raised concern that the dust from the debris, which was expected to take at least three months to clear by the earliest estimate, will coincide with the annual winter pollution season.

According to the management plan, about 48,000 tonnes of debris is supposed to be used for filling up the society’s basement, and 28,000 tonnes is to be transported and processed at the C&D plant in three months.

About 4,000 tonnes of iron and steel bars retrieved from the mound would be sold by the demolition company, Edifice Engineering, to recover some of its project cost.

When asked, Edifice officials cited “technical” issues for halting the transportation of debris to the plant.

“The work of breaking huge chunks of concrete into smaller ones is going on at the site. The transportation will start soon as we are in the process to sort out the issues with the developer,” said Mayur Mehta, project manager, Edifice Engineering.

A spokesperson for the developer, Supertech, refused to comment.

It is the responsibility of Edifice to transport debris to the plant but Supertech has to bear the cost of the C&D waste being processed at the plant.

Noida Authority officials aware of the matter said on Monday that apart from the processing plant, a plan is being looked into to dump a portion of the debris at a vacant plot of land in Greater Noida. The pollution department has been asked to inspect the site and judge its feasibility. The plan would also require the local authority’s permission.