AAP Moves NGT Against Proposed Landfill Site in East Delhi

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against a proposed landfill site to be set up near East Delhi’s Sonia Vihar. AAP leader Dilip Pandey, one of the main petitioners in the case, said they were objecting to the landfill on the grounds that it was close to a residential area and was also in the Yamuna floodplains, which makes it an ecological and health hazard.

Last month, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) identified two sites – Ghonda Gujran and Sonia Vihar – both near the Yamuna as a replacement for the Ghazipur landfill site, which it said was becoming a “safety hazard”. The Sonia Vihar site is less than 1,500 meters from the river bank, which makes it a flood-prone area. “We have petitioned the NGT against the proposed landfill near a residential area in East Delhi. The landfill site has been allocated in a residential area. Such an allocation is against the interests of the people living there,” Pandey said on Tuesday.

He added, “Construction can only take place in a floodplain if it hasn’t seen a flood in the last 100 years. Since floods are frequent in these parts, it is very dangerous to construct anything here. They (MCD) are proposing that this landfill be built in the floodplains. It will also lead to diseases among local people. This is backed by data and research. It will lead to a contamination of the groundwater,” the AAP leader added.

Pandey said that local Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in and around the Sonia Vihar landfill wrote a letter to the local AAP MLA and Councillor, asking them to help find a solution. “Even though we had nothing to do with the allotment of the land, we are working towards finding a solution. We have written a letter to the DDA and MCD but it seems that letter has been consigned to the garbage heap. That is why we have decided to move the NGT. We hope the NGT will direct authorities to stop environmental damage in the area and we demand that DDA cancel the land allotment,” Pandey said.