Notes from the Public Meeting
Usha Ramnathan, a noted jurist criticized the central and Delhi government for playing with the livelihoods of the waste pickers and recycling community by handing over waste management to private companies. She said that
the Unique Identification
(UID) Number project as an attempt to corporatize human identity while pursuing the path of privatising government itself. The corporatization of waste is part of the same process. She was speaking at the Public Meeting on “Carbon Trade Fraud & Human Cost of Garbage to Electricity Projects in Delhi" on 10 December, 2010 in the Speaker Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.
Comrade D Raja, Member of Parliament, Communist Party of India said he would raise the matter of threat to livelihood of waste pickers and from pollution in the Parliament. He sought a study of the health and environmental impact of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant technology for generating electricity from garbage. This meeting was organised by environmental and labour groups along with relevant RWAs of Delhi to address the issue of dubious carbon trade which is promoting highly polluting plants in the residential, school and hospital areas.The meeting was aimed at reflecting on the possible responses towards the rising issue of threat to livelihood of waste pickers due to incineration based waste-to-energy projects in Delhi. These Garbage to Electricity projects referred to as Waste to Energy projects by the government is being bulldozed in Timarpur, Sukdev Vihar (Okhla) and Gazipur despite bitter resistance.This meeting is being organised to combat the emergence of tried, tested and failed incineration technology for misplaced waste to energy projects. The Delhi Government and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy have been promoting toxic co-incineration technologies such as incineration, gasification, pyrolysis and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).
Comrade Sunilam of the Socialist Party expressed the support of his party for the struggle of the waste pickers for life with dignity.
The meeting was addressed by:
Mr B Sengupta, Former Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
Mr D Raja, Member of Parliament
Dr Sunilam, Member of Parliament
Mr Dunu Roy, Director, Hazard Centre
Mr Devendar Bral, President, Delhi Kabadi Mazdoor Sangh
Mr Gopal Krishna, Convener, ToxicsWatch Alliance
Mr K K Rohtagi, Lawyer, Delhi High Court (for Sukhdev Vihar RWA)
Mr Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Link
Mr Prof S S Khanna, former Vice-Chancellor, former Senior Advisor, Planning Commission
Mr Shashi Bhushan Pandit, Secretary, All India Kabadi Mazdoor Mahasangh
Ms Usha Ramnathan, Independent Legal Researcher and Jurist
Mr Dharmesh Shah, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)
For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance, Mb: 9818089660, Shashi Bhushan Pandit, Mb: 9968413109, Devendar Bral, Mb: 9811507172, Dharmendar Yadav, Mb: 968005632
(Pictures: Gopal Krishna)
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