3 plants are killing us, why bring another WTE unit, asks Sannoth

NEW DELHI: The air in Sannoth, a village next to Bawana industrial area in north Delhi, stings before it suffocates. By the time you walk past a large landfill, which has grown over the past 12 years, cross a stinking sewer that once used to be a clean natural drain towards Munak Canal, your throat itches and your eyes burn. Locals say this is the new normal.
Sannoth, once known for health-conscious people and yoga practitioners, now lives with asthma inhalers, skin diseases and dyspnea.

The region already has three plants to manage Delhi’s piling solid waste, chunks of which are often set afire, sending smoke into homes. However, villages are now bracing for a new waste-to-energy (WTE) plant recently cleared by the Union environment ministry.

The villagers have been protesting against the newly sanctioned M/s Jindal Urban Waste Management (Bawana) Limited since Dec last year. Their concern is existential. “How can they bring another WTE plant when three such waste management facilities are already killing us slowly? We are seeing our loved ones dying, children cough and often struggle to breathe while playing,” Rajpal Saini, 70, a Sannoth resident.


People can’t do yoga anymore, can’t sit outside, can’t go for long walks. The monsoon, a season that once would refill the ponds and channels and increase greenery, has become a nightmare as an intense foul odour fills the air,” said Saini, who retired from MCD’s sanitation department and has since dedicated his life to probing and exposing the environmental impact of waste processing in the area.

The new plant is to come up between between the Munak Canal, which feeds half of the city with drinking water, and the landfill — a private storage and treatment facility of hazardous waste.

A visit by TOI to the area paints a grim picture of environmental degradation and a community grappling with a worsening health crisis. Yet, the plant’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) appears to side-step or downplay these realities — especially the proximity of dense human settlements and the precarious state of the natural stream slicing through the project site.

TOI sent queries to the Jindal group to find out how were they going to address the environmental concerns. However, no reply was received despite repeated attempts.

Despite sustained local protests, the project secured environmental clearance. However, as the MoEFCC gave environmental clearance to the project on June 18, fears of a spike in contamination echo louder, given the condition of a similar facility in Okhla.

“Our elders who died about a decade back were the last ones to die a natural death. Ever since that landfill started to grow taller, garbage being brought to this area in trucks, and a waste-to-energy plant was established, we witnessed diseases engulfing this and neighbouring villages. Swarms of big colourful flies, foul smell and itchy eyes are common. Now that a new WTE plant, a large one, has been proposed, we have no other option but to protest,” said Saini.

Munesh, another resident of Sanoth, pointed towards her son, 23-yearold Ayush, who has an intellectual disability, and said that for the past five years he faced difficulty breathing, and the situation worsened every year. “Ever since the issue started, the seizures increased,” said Munesh.

Similar concerns were echoed by Parvinder, father of 12-year-old Akshita, who often gets restless and gasps for air.
“Some 12 years back, next to a natural pond, they started bringing and dumping waste to set up a private plant. Soon, a natural drain that passed through that site started getting murkier dark water. The air quality of the village worsened. We remember that while playing cricket as children, people would take sips from this channel. Now, we worry for the Munak Canal, which passes right next to the proposed site,” said Chand Narwal, who was joined by a retired Delhi Police constable Balraj, who echoed the same concerns.


“My wife died three years back due to lung disease, and I got asthma,” said Brahm Prakash, a villager who retired from DTC.
Saini further pointed out that the proposed project site had over 80 trees which villagers numbered, and that the project might impact a population larger than expected. “The EC was granted without proper fieldwork and the impact to human life due to already existing plants was avoided. No one ever visited the villages. They didn’t even consider public views which were sought by the Delhi govt. We even found that about 30 responses in favour of the plant were from JJ cluster, who were not even aware of the plant,” said Saini.


When TOI contacted some of the 30 JJ colony residents who signed a handwritten letter in favour of the plant, they claimed that they were misguided. “Two men came to the colony and told that a water plant is being set up and that I will get a job there. So, I signed the letter supporting that factory. Later, we came to know that it’s a plant to burn garbage,” said Tufail Khan, a resident of JJ colony. Md Sahid Alam, another resident, tells a similar story.

“The so-called public hearing was a complete farce, a disorganised, harassing charade that shifted venues multiple times, silenced residents, failed to record any objections or minutes, and rushed through before locals could even file their written submissions. To top it off, multiple letters favouring the plant, all in identical handwriting, expose a blatantly duplicitous attempt to manipulate public sentiment. Above that, toxic emissions and ash from the already existing plant and landfill have already led to skyrocketing rates of respiratory, kidney and cancerrelated illnesses among villagers, so approving another incinerator here is nothing short of environmental and health betrayal,” said environmental activist Bhavreen Kandhari.