Let plant work in public interest, remove mental block: NGT

Noting that proper functioning of waste-to-energy plant would serve public interest, which must prevail over "little inconvenience", the National Green Tribunal has advised citizens to overcome "mental block" that there cannot be a compost yard in the neighbourhood.
The tribunal said that efforts should be made to protect the environment which is the fundamental duty of citizens and other stakeholders and the fundamental right to have a decent and clean environment as mandated under the Constitution can be achieved by protecting the environment and not by opposing the plant's operation.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar made the observations in its recent judgement allowing operation of Okhla waste-to-energy plant, saying it is now non-polluting.

The tribunal said if any inconvenience is caused to the Sukhdev Vihar residents, who had filed a petition to shut down the plant, they must give way to larger public interest of handling and processing of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Delhi.
It, however, made it clear that the plant should comply with all enrivonmental rules and regulations and not cause any injury to public health or environment.
"As of present, it appears to be the only plausible solution when the influx of population is increasing day by day," it said.

"Public at large has to overcome the mental block that there cannot be compost yard or waste-to-energy plant in the neighbourhood of their residential area," it said, adding that the plant owner has to adhere to the prescribed standards and to make it pollution-free.

The bench said the concept of 'not in my backyard' has to be subservient to processing of waste in public interest and it has to be been seen what is the best possible way of handling and processing such huge quantity of waste generated by the residents of Delhi.
Elaborating on the technology, the green panel said that
waste-to-energy is a methodology to process the waste which is scientifically accepted all over the world and more than 800 plants are in operation around the world without causing any environmental degradation or pollution.
"Under Schedule IV of the Rules of 2000, this has been accepted as one of the waste-processing methodology and, therefore, proper operationalisation of waste to energy plant would serve larger public interest, which must prevail over a limited inconvenience," it said.

The bench also noted that the municipal corporation and other public authorities, including the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, had vehemently contended that as of now waste-to-energy plant is the only viable option available with them to deal with such huge amount of waste.
Agreeing with the concept of waste-to-energy plant, the bench said that it would generate power of which there is "acute shortage" in Delhi and also the fly ash generated from the plant would be used for making bricks and other construction materials.
It noted that even the project proponent, M/s Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd, has established a brick manufacturing plant which would avoid transportation of the fly ash.

"A waste-to-power generation plant has to be environment centric.... These amongst others are some of the benefits of operating a waste-to-energy plant in the larger interest of the society as well as for prevention and control of environmental pollution resulting from the indiscriminate dumping of municipal solid waste, which is a regular feature of the day," the bench said.