Waste energy plant stuck even as Bhalswa breathes pollution

The opening of the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant at Bawana, which may take a "substantial" load off the overused Bhalswa landfill site, is stuck due to a dispute between North Delhi Municipal Corporation and a private company over revenue sharing.
The Bhalswa landfill site was commissioned in the year 1994 with a capacity to handle 1,150 MTD (Metric Tonnes Daily) but is at present operating beyond its saturation point at the risk of human lives, with incidents of fire reported intermittently.
The North MCD, which accounts for generation of 3,100 MTD waste, had entered into an agreement with a Hyderabad-based company to launch a compost plant at the Bawana site but later the project saw an upgrade to include a 24 MW waste energy plant.

"The private company (Ramky Foundation) proposed to produce power from the waste as it found very few takers for compost and RDF (refuse-derived fuel). But an issue cropped up as the question of revenue sharing from selling the power came into the picture," an MCD official said.
According to the official, the National Green Tribunal recently took up the matter and directed both the parties to file reports to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) within three weeks.
The tussle continues even as the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has filed an FIR against unknown persons over fire incidents at the Bhalswa landfill site, which has been described by AAP as an attempt to "sabotage and derail" the odd-even scheme.

A senior Delhi government official said the Ghazipur landfill site has seen a reduction in the number of fires since a similar plant was commissioned on a trial basis for two months.

"Bhalswa will similarly be easier to manage once the 1,550 MTD capacity Bawana plant is functional as a lot of waste will be diverted. But for that the MCD will have to shed its laxity," the official said.
Delhi produces over 8,300 MTD waste but the existing capacity of its all three landfill sites stands at 4,660 MTD. All these are operating beyond their saturation point, the Economic Survey report by the Delhi government had said last year.

The three sites at Bhalswa and Ghazipur, commissioned in 1984, and Okhla, in 1996, are not designed as per the Municipal Solid Waste Rules of 2000 and lack authorisation from the DPCC but continue to function as MCDs cite lack of land to set up new garbage dumping grounds.