Submit plan for waste management plant at Ranikhera: NGT

The National Green Tribunal today directed the civic bodies and the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) to come out with a clear mechanism for setting up an integrated waste management plant at Ranikhera near the Delhi-Haryana border.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations, Delhi Development Authority and the DSIIDC to take clear instructions on the issue.
The green panel noted that the pieces of land at Ranikhera which have been earmarked for setting up of the waste management plant exist in four different pieces.
"All these lands are abutting land which belongs to DSIIDC and it is stated to be presently laying vacant. Obviously the land is under DSIIDC is meant for industrial use," it noted.

The green panel proposed that the land which belonged to DSIIDC can be used for setting up the plant and it can be given a different piece of land near the area measuring 16 acres for industrial use.
During the hearing, advocate Balendu Shekhar said that it was not feasible for the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) to dump waste at Ranikhera as it was located at a far off distance from its Ghazipur landfill site.

He also said the corporation does not have adequate number of trucks to carry the waste at the proposed site and sought land at Ghonda Gujran in East Delhi from DDA for waste dumping.

Advocate Kush Sharma, appearing for the DDA, told the bench that the land sought by EDMC fell in zone "O" of the Yamuna floodplains where construction activity has been prohibited by the NGT.
The tribunal then asked the municipal corporations to seek instructions on the issue of setting integrated waste management plan at Ranikhera and posted the matter for hearing on December 13.
The NGT had earlier restrained the DSIIDC from carrying out any construction on land at Ranikhera near the Delhi- Haryana border, which was earmarked for dumping waste but was not used till now.
The NGT had slammed DSIIDC for giving priority to industrial activity at the site and said no one was willing to provide a solution to the problem of waste generation in the city.

The tribunal, which is looking into the issue of alternative landfill sites, had earlier ordered inspection of land at Ranikhera.
It had directed the officers of the Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Jal Board, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and DSIIDC to visit the site and apprise the tribunal about the status of the land.
The direction came while hearing a plea for setting up of additional landfill sites at all available locations which can be used for waste management.
After the recent Ghazipur landfill collapse, the tribunal was working on alternative sites for dumping of waste, including the 50-acre site in Ranikhera located on the Delhi- Haryana border.

The site was identified at least two years ago, but waste disposal couldn't begin because of the differences between the authorities.
The landfill sites at Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla are already over-saturated.
The green panel had earlier slammed the Delhi government and the municipal corporations in te city over dumps of waste overflowing from various landfill sites in the city and sought a status report from them.
It had last year constituted a committee to look into the working of waste-to-energy plants in the national capital.
It had also asked Central Pollution Control Board and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to approach the Delhi government to provide more landfill sites in the city and maintain them strictly in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016.