Protest against lawlessness by Jindal Ecopolis

Okhla Anti-Incinerator Committee

PRESS NOTE

RWAs protest against lawlessness by Jindal Ecopolis

NEW DELHI, May 19 – Residents of the Okhla colonies marched Thursday to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to protest against the “utter lawlessness” of Jindal Ecopolis in building a toxic waste-to-energy incinerator in a thickly populated part of South Delhi.

The residents presented a memorandum to environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh saying: “With so many conspicuous violations, this project should have been scrapped by now. No accountability is being fixed on those responsible for clearing and justifying this project. “

“Jindal Ecopolis is openly violating rules laid down by the MoEF and the Supreme Court in setting up this toxic industry under a so-called public-private partnership being pushed by the Delhi State government,” said Padma Agarwal, Gen. Secy of the Jasola Vihar Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA).

“We are asking Minister Jairam Ramesh, to intervene and stop further construction of plant on the grounds that Jindal Ecopolis does not have a valid Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for constructing such a large and toxic incinerator,” Agarwal said.

Ramesh had, following a visit to the plant on March 31, ordered technical review by the Central Polution Control Board (CPCB) whose chairman Prof. S.P. Gautam has acknowledged publicly that the plant is likely to pollute the air, water and soil around it.

But the residents are concerned that almost two months later Jindal Ecopolis has not bothered to submit a satisfactory EIA to the CPCB but was brazenly continuing to build the plant.

“We are unable to understand how the Delhi Government and the MoEF are allowing such lawlessness and pretending that they are trying to make Delhi Green and pollution-free,” said Vivek Dhupa, president of the new friends Colony Residents’ Welfare Association.

“There is already a highly polluting biomedical waste incinerator in the area which has been ordered relocated by the Delhi High Court a year ago, and instead of implementing that order, they are now building this new 2,010 tonne per-day waste-to-energy incinerator,” said Dhupar.

Dhupar noted that such polluting industries are being set up without consulting the local residents although the rules of the CPCB and the MoEF clearly mandate [public hearings.

“We know that the CPCB has issued a warning to Jindal Ecopolis that they will be denied an operating license unless they conform to technical and other rules, but neither they nor the Delhi government seems to care,” Dhupar said.

Concerns expressed by local residents included the transport of 400 truck loads of polluting rubbish to the site daily choking traffic on Mathura Road, the safe disposal of toxic flyash and the spread of contaminants like dioxin and furans as well as mercury and other heavy metals through two giant some stack which are already in place.

Okhla communities falling within a two kilometer radius of the plant and protesting include those from New Friends Colony, Sukhdev Vihar, Jasola Vihar, Sarita Vihar, Kalkaji and Jamia Nagar and Haji Colony.

For Details:

Vivek Dhupa, President New Friends Colony RWA ( 9313746051)

Arif Khan, General Secretary, Haji Colony RWA . Mobile: 9891519844

Anant Trivedi, RWA member, Ishwar Nagar.

Vanya Joshi, Coordinator, Okhla Anti-Incineration Committee - 9873980694

Asha Arora, Co-coordinator, Okhla Anti-incineration Committee. Mobile-9711408421 .

Padma Agarwal Gen. Secy RWA Jasola Vihar - 9312212419

Praveen Shrivastava, RWA, Sarita Vihar - 9871039616

S. Khurana, Vice President, Sukhdev Vihar RWA - 9810218150

Web: toxicswatch.blogspot.com

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