Noida authority officials and residents conducted a meeting on Monday regarding an upcoming waste-to-energy-plant in the city.
Noida officials residents meet
The Noida Authority conducted a meeting with the city’s residents at Indira Gandhi Kala Kendra, Sector 6, Noida on Monday to discuss issues like landfill site, dumpyards and development of a waste-to-energy plant. The meeting was led by Alok Tandon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CCEO) of Noida Authroity.
The officials of the authority said that they have decided to develop a waste-to-energy plant on 25 acres of land in the city and have also received a clearance certificate from the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Officials claimed that they displayed some videos in order to explain the kind of technology which will be used in the upcoming waste-to-energy-plant. Residents however opposed the authority’s decision to develop the plant. The meeting witnessed some heated discussions as the residents raised various questions to Alok Tandon regarding health hazards likely to prevail due to the plant.
RK Mishra, Additional Chief Executive Officer of Noida Authority said that if residents of Sector 123 do not want a waste treatment facility in their vicinity, people living in other sectors will also not allow us to set up a plant near their houses. It means that the authority will not be able to develop a waste-to-energy plant anywhere in the city.
He claimed that the authority has been repeatedly telling people that the waste-to-energy plant will not create any problem to residents in its vicinity.
"The Noida Authority released the tenders for four projects- the waste to energy plant in Sector-123, onsite remediation of waste on existing sites, door-to-door waste collection and increase in waste segregation by creating awareness about management of solid waste rules. We will finalise the contractor by May 2018,” Mishra said in the meeting.
Mishra also said that the NGT and the Allahabad high court have allowed the Authority to proceed with the project, which earlier faced objections from the residents of sectors around the chosen site in Sector 123.
“We will collect garbage from people’s houses and it will be directly sent to the waste-to-energy-plant. As a result, no more garbage will be witnessed on the roads and other areas of the city,” Mishra added.
"We are hiring different contractors for different work. A private agency will be hired for door-to-door collection of waste which will be taken to the landfill sites. Tenders will also be invited for onsite remediation of waste at these pre-existing sites. Another agency will be hired to treat the garbage at these sites through the latest technology. This procedure will continue until the Sector 123 plant becomes operational,” Mishra said.
Mishra also claimed that a machine of 1000 ton will be soon installed in Noida which will recycle the 600 ton waste generated in the city. Moreover, he added that the machine will cost fifty lakh rupees.
Residents demanded that the authority should follow the Ambikapur model and adopt the zero waste culture.
“Chhattisgarh’s cleanest city, Ambikapur, has no open dumping yards, segregates over 90 percent of its waste and generates rupees thirteen lakh every month through recycling. The Ambikapur residents adopted a decentralised wasted management model and have achieved a lot within a short period of two years. In May 2016, the city converted its 15-acre landfill site into a ‘sanitation awareness park’ filled with trees and ponds. The city has now formally declared itself as a zero-waste region,” Praveen Nayak, a resident said.
Anupam Oberoi, a resident of sector 122, said that when he asked about the laws regarding development of a landfill site and waste-to-energy-plant, the officials left the meeting midway without giving any response.
The meeting failed to come to any conclusion as the officials and residents didn’t agree with each other’s views.
