Shifting of depot at Tughlakabad: NGT notice to Centre, CONCOR

A warehousing expert today moved the National Green Tribunal seeking the shifting of Container Corporation of India's (CONCOR) Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad here to another place on the ground that it adds to the deteriorating air quality in the national capital.
Taking note of the plea, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Delhi government, CONCOR and Railway Board.
The green panel tagged the matter with a similar case on air pollution and posted it for hearing on October 19.
The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by warehousing expert Ajay Khera claiming that non-Delhi bound operations currently being carried out at Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad (ICD/TK) was contributing to alarming level of air pollution in the city and hence should be shifted to some other economically and environment-friendly location outside the capital.

"The applicant avers that contrary to the submissions made by the Container Corporation of India Limited, a large chunk of the cargo which is handled by ICD/TKD is not destined for Delhi and is delivered or picked from locations outside Delhi and consequently there remains no rationale whatsoever for containers/trailers not destined for Delhi to come to ICD TKD...
"Direct CONCOR and Delhi government to prohibit the entry of trailers at ICD TKD which are not bound for Delhi and only utilise CNG or battery operated small vehicles for cargo," the plea filed through advocates Sanjay Upadhyay and Salik Shafique said.

Khera has submitted in his plea that despite having a large area for parking of trailers, hundreds of trucks and container carriers are parked on the road outside ICD/TK causing traffic jams.

He has also referred to a Environment Pollution Control Authority report which said that ICD/TK was a huge contributor to the air pollution in Delhi due to movement of heavy trucks.
Earlier, CONCOR had opposed the proposal of shifting its Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad to Dadri in Gautam Budh Nagar and said that the reason for heavy pollution in Delhi was dust and not the number of container trucks entering Delhi.

The capital's "proximity to Rajasthan" and the "resulting dust from the desert" was the prime factor of Delhi's high pollution, CONCOR had said.