Press
Release
Green
Tribunal’s order on Okhla Bird Sanctuary applicable to Jindal’s Waste Power
Plant
Toxic
ash fall poses grave threat to birds and residents who face routine hazardous
emissions from Jindal’s Power Plant based on unapproved Chinese waste boiler
technology
Okhla
Bird Sanctuary should be declared a Ramasar site
Transboundary
air pollution affects Delhi’s Okhla vegetable market and UP’s NOIDA areas,
Union
Environment Minister asked by RWAs to shut down the plant
Plant
functions sans mandatory clearances from National Board for Wildlife
New
Delhi Aug 24, 2013: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) order of August 14, 2003
which put a stop to all illegal constructions in a 10-km radius of Okhla Bird
Sanctuary at the Okhla barrage over Yamuna River on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border
is applicable to the waste incineration based power plant of M/s Jindal Urban
Infrastructure Limited (JUIL), a company of M/s Jindal Saw Group Limited that
is facing bitter opposition from residents, environmental groups and waste
pickers of Delhi. The plant is just 1.7-km away from the Okhla Bird Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is situated at the entrance of Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar
district of Uttar Pradesh.
An
area of 3.5 square kilometres on the river Yamuna was notified as a bird
sanctuary by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under the Wildlife Protection Act,
1972 in 1990.
The
Jindal’s power plant is sandwiched between an eco sensitive zone and the
residential colonies. The plant is situated at a distance of less than 50-100
meters from the residential colonies. This hazardous plant has an adverse
impact on a large number of transcontinental migratory birds that visit the
Okhla sanctuary. Their numbers have decreased over the years. Not only that there
is a large lake which lies sandwiched between Okhla village towards the west
and Gautam Budh Nagar towards the east, the impact of the plant on this water
source was not been disclosed in the Environment Impact Assessment report of
the plant. This plant does not have the required mandatory clearances from the
National Board for Wildlife. The sanctuary is approachable from Mathura Road
(NH-2), via Sarita Vihar going towards NOIDA.
The
nearest stations of Delhi Metro are Sarita Vihar and Jasola Apollo metro
station. This also reveals that the plant located in the vicinity of the
sanctuary is amidst densely populated residential area.
Residents
once again took the burnt of toxic ash fall on them on August 23, 2013. Central
Pollution Control Board has noted in its report submitted to the Tribunal that
hazardous pollutants get created when the plant starts operations and when it
shuts down. The fact is that even if there is very high temperature to
incinerate the mixed municipal waste for operations it emits persistent organic
pollutants and heavy metals. The plant emits pink, yellow, black and white
smoke which is demonstrates the lethal nature of the emissions. Residents are
held a meeting today take stock of the grave situation they are routinely faced
with.
A
scientist with the NGT appointed Commission, Dr U.C. Bahri wrote to Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on 16 August 2013 saying, “Dust from Waste to
energy plant was shocking… We expect strong action against the operators so
that people living around should not suffer” and shared pictures with it. Delhi
Chief Minister and all the central and state agencies continues to feign
ignorance about the plight of residents of Okhla. The residents will surely
give a befitting reply to her in the upcoming assembly elections.
If
National Green Tribunal’s order does not apply to Okhla’s municipal waste to
energy plant functioning in Okhla in the name power generation its order will
appear to be empty symbolism. This plant is surrounded by Sukhdev Vihar,
university, schools, hospitals, bird sanctuary and several other residential
areas of Okhla. This residents’ case against it is before the Tribunal which
will hear the case on August 29, 2013.
It
is quite disturbing that Okhla’s vegetable market (subzi mandi) is getting
submerged in the ashes which emerge from the plant which is burning some 2050
Metric Tons of mixed municipal waste which has hazardous waste
characteristics.
This
Jindal’s power plant is situated not only in the proximity of New Friends
Colony, Maharani Bagh, Sukhdev Vihar and the business district Nehru Place -
but also several prominent institutions, including hospitals like Apollo,
Escorts and Holy Family. But
disregarding these habitations of birds and humans and a number of binding
guidelines from multiple state agencies and Supreme Court directive, the plant
has deployed unapproved and untested Chinese technology for power generation
from burning the garbage unmindful of its human and environmental cost due to
emissions of pollutants like persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals.
This has serious health and environment implications for the residents of
National Capital Region (NCR) in general and Okhla and NOIDA residents in
particular. Transboundary air pollution from plant is adversely affecting
Delhi’s Okhla vegetable market and UP’s NOIDA areas.
South
Delhi's residents in Okhla face toxic dust as Jindal’s waste based power plant
in Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla spews out large clouds of thick emissions. Such toxic
emissions from the Jindal’s power plant in an ecologically sensitive area and
thickly populated area has become a routine affairs with all the concerned
authorities turning a blind eye towards this illegitimate and illegal act. The
apparent complicity of the central ministries of New and Renewable Energy and
Environment & Forests, State Government’s Delhi Pollution Control Committee
and Municipal Corporation is quite stark. They appear helpless in the face of
the corporate might of the company.
Residents are left choking and spluttering and
suffered severe eye irritation in Sukhdev Vihar which is barely 100 metres from
the plant. Much of Sukhdev Vihar, Hazi
colony, Gaffar Manzil and adjoining colonies including Jamia Milia Islamia and
hospitals remains blanketed by soapy brown ash which had to be cleaned off
floors, cars and even trees and shrubbery.
This
plant is in violation of the Supreme Court order in Writ Petition (Civil) 888
of 1996. The matter will come for hearing again on August 27, 2013. In the matter
of Okhla's waste to energy plant even Shri Jairam Ramesh, the then Union
Environment Minister had written a letter dated April 1, 2011 to the Chief
Minister of Delhi following a site visit on March 30, 2011 and meeting with
residents on 31st March, 2011 underlining violation of environmental
regulations.
Tribunal
ought to intervene urgently to prevent public health and environmental disaster
due to this municipal waste to energy incinerator plant in the Okhla area in
particular and in Delhi in general. Such unprecedented health crisis has been
witnessed in Gandhumguda village, Peeranchery Panchayat, Ranga Reddy district
in Andhra Pradesh where SELCO company ran its waste to energy incinerator
plant.
ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA), a research and advocacy group demands that Okhla Bird Sanctuary
be declared a Ramsar site. The Ramsar Convention’s Article 1.1 defines wetlands
as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial,
permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish
or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does
not exceed six metres.” This definition can be applied to Okhla Bird Sanctuary.
Its Article 2.1 provides that wetlands to be included in the Ramsar List of
internationally important wetlands “may incorporate riparian and coastal zones
adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six
metres at low tide lying within the wetlands.” Wetlands are areas where water
is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and
animal life. They occur where the water table is at or near the surface of the
land, or where the land is covered by water.
There
are total 26 recognized Ramsar sites in India. Okhla Bird Sanctuary should be
made India’s 27th Ramasar site to ensure its protection and conservation from
encroachments and industrial pollution. NCR does not have any Ramasar site.
The
ongoing protest rallies and an online campaign on Facebook - Okhla ka Ghosla-
against the toxic, waste-to-energy incinerator where students are also
participating in large numbers underlines that the operation of Jindal’s waste
burning based power plant is an act of environmental lawlessness in the heart
of the national capital. If Tribunal ensures closure of this illegitimate and
illegal plant, it will enhance its credibility and prestige before the
environmental movement. So far Tribunal has not taken any action penalizing the
Jindal’s plant for its acts of omission and commission and violation of all the
rules in the rule book.
The
polluting potential of a plant using municipal solid waste as fuel is serious.
Emissions include suspended particulate matter (SPM), sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen
oxides (NOx), hydrogen chloride (HCl), and dioxins and furans, the most toxic
substances known to mankind. This plant is owned by Prithviraj Jindal who won
an open tender in 2008 to build and operate the plant for 25 years at a project
cost of Rs 240 crore. The owner has ignored the disastrous environmental health
consequences of its operations.
Not
surprisingly, resident welfare associations have written to Jayanthi Natarajan,
Minister of Environment and Forests asking her to act on Ministry’s “own
guidelines and exercise relevant statutory provisions under Section 3 of the
Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Section 5 (1) of the Environment Protection
Act 1986 to immediately shut down the plant.”
For
Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb:09818089660, 08227816731
E-mail:
gopalkrishna1715@gmail.com , Web: www.toxicswatch.org
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