May 29, 2015: Following Delhi Government’s refusal to renew license
of Synergy company’s bio-medical waste incinerator, Delhi High Court has refused relief to the Okhla plant. It
termed company’s application for relief as infructuous, ineffective,
unproductive and unfruitful.
The case against Chief
Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi and Managing Director, M/s Synergy Waste
Management Pvt Ltd was disposed off on 28th May, 2015 following
closure of Bio-Medical Waste
Incinerator located in the vicinity of DDA Flats, Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla, New
Delhi due to expiry and non-renewal of its license after 18th
May, 2015. In a remarkable move, Delhi Government had kept itself ready to face
this situation. It illustrates how peoples’ resistance can compel the
government to listen to them.
An Office Memorandum (OM)
dated 15th May, 2015, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) shows
that the state government had planned for “redistribution of area among two common
bio-medical waste treatment facilities (CBMWTFs) in Delhi, in the vent of
closure of Synergy Waste Management Pvt Ltd. on 18.05.2015.” The OM was signed
by Kulanand Joshi, Member Secretary, DPCC. The OM is attached. This was an outcome
the meeting residents had with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
It is noteworthy that the
attached Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s manifesto for Kalkaji had recognized the
public health concerns emanating from this polluting plant and had promised to make
efforts and struggle with Okhla residents against it.
Notably, Delhi High
Court had re-ordered immediate closure of biomedical waste incinerator plant
Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla while the Civil
Contempt Petition No 102/2014 filed in Writ Petition (C) No. 6976 of 2008
against Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Managing Director, Synergy
Waste Management Pvt Ltd in the matter of Dioxins emitting biomedical waste
incinerator in Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla.
After Delhi High
Court's judgment dated 15th January, 2013 established the adverse health
impacts from the incinerator based on existing medical literature, the fate of M/s Synergy Waste Management Pvt. Ltd.
(SWMPL) which operated Bio-Medical Waste Incinerator located in the vicinity of
DDA Flats, Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla, New Delhi was sealed. This order had come in
response a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in 2008 seeking its closure.
But when Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi and Contemnor no.1
and Neeraj Agarwal, Managing Director, M/s Synergy Waste Management Pvt Ltd, Contemnor
No.2 did not comply with the order in contempt of this Court’s Judgment, a Civil
Contempt Petition was filed. A review petition No. 111/2013 filed by the
company was dismissed on 27th February, 2013.
The High Court judgment
refers to 'The summary of "Epidemiological Studies on Adverse Health
Effects Associated with Incineration" would show that medical waste
incinerators are a leading source of dioxins and mercury in the environment and
there is link between incinerator emissions and adverse health impacts on
incinerator workers and residents living around the incinerators.'
The observations made
in the judgment will have far reaching implications. It reads: "Both older
and more modern incinerators can contribute to the contamination of local soil
and vegetation with dioxins and heavy metals. In several European countries,
cow"s milk from farms located in the vicinity of incinerators has been
found to contain elevated levels of dioxin, in some cases above regulatory
limits. Increased levels of dioxins have been found in the tissues of residents
near to incinerators in the UK, Spain and Japan. At an incinerator in Finland,
mercury was increased in hair of residents living in the vicinity. Children
living near a modern incinerator in Spain were found to have elevated levels of
urinary thioethers, a biomarker of toxic exposure. " It notes that
"After 2 years of operation of incinerator, dioxins levels were found
increased by about 25% in both groups living between 0.5 to 1.5 and 3.5 to 4.0
km away (201 people) of people. In the repeat analysis, the increase was in the
range of 10-15%".
The judgment records
that "Mothers living close to incinerators and crematoria from 1956 to
1993" showed "increased risk of lethal congenital abnormalities, in particular,
spinal bifida and heart defects, near incinerators: increased risk of
stillbirths and anacephalus near crematoria".
With regard to
"Residents from 7 to 64 years old living within 5 km of an incinerator and
the incinerator workers" the judgment observes, "Levels of mercury in
hair increased with closer proximity to the incinerator during a 10 year
period". The judgment recorded that
"Residents living within 10 km of an incinerator, refinery, and waste
disposal site" showed "Significant increase in laryngeal cancer in
men living with closer proximity to the incinerator and other pollution
sources". The *"Residents living around an incinerator and other
pollution sources" showed "Significant increase in lung cancer
related specifically to the incinerator". *The *"People living within
7.5 km of 72 incinerators" displayed "Risks of all cancers and
specifically of stomach, colorectal, liver and lung cancer increased with
closer proximity to incinerators".
The struggle of
residents and environmental groups is far from over. The judgment is quite
relevant for the upcoming hearing in the National Green filed by the resident’s
welfare association (RWA) of Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla against the municipal waste
incineration power plant is being operated by Delhi's Timarpur-Okhla Waste
Management Co Pvt Ltd (TOWMCL) of M/s Jindal Urban Infrastructure Limited
(JUIL), a company of M/s Jindal Saw Group Limited.
ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA)
has been demanding closure of waste incinerators plants because shifting a
polluting unit of factory does not make it non-polluting. Responding to a
letter of TWA Union Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar has promised to
look into the possibility of Bhopal like disaster due Jindal’s plant in Okhla operating admittedly
in residential areas without any Disaster Management Plan using unapproved and
untested Chinese technology.
Meanwhile, National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is pursuing Case No. 8296/30/10/2014 filed by TWA which has been campaigning against this toxic
Dioxins emitting plant since 2005 and is pursuing a case against the toxic
threat from municipal waste incinerator plants in Okhla, Narela-Bawana and
Ghazipur.
Notably, owing to
public health concerns, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister has visited the hazardous
Dioxins emitting plants in Okhla and Ghazipur. It is high time the government
in the national capital territory revised the tried, tested and failed approach
adopted for waste management.
For
Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb:
9818089660, 08227816731, E-mail: 1715 krishna@gmail.com, Web:
www.toxicswatch.org
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