DDA ready to grant 2 sites for setting up waste plants, CPCB tells NGT

The Central Pollution Control Board told the National Green Tribunal today that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had granted in-principle approval for the allotment of land at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran here for solid waste management facilities.

Both the sites fall in Zone-O (river and water-body area) where NGT had prohibited construction and said that any activity would require its prior sanction.

The apex pollution monitoring body told a bench headed by Acting Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim that based on a National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) report and its analysis, an area of 88 acres at Sonia Vihar and a 42.5-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran can be given to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) for handling and processing waste.

The tribunal directed advocate Kush Sharma, appearing for the DDA, to file its response in a week on the issue and posted the matter for hearing on May 3.

The CPCB told the bench, "Competent authority DDA has approved, in principle, for allotment of land for solid waste management processing and disposal facilities at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran to EDMC subject to clearance by NGT and subject to the change of land use of the areas to the extent as may be cleared by NGT."