Waste-to-energy plant a political stunt, says DPCC president
Apart from the garbage mountain that earned Delhi a bad name, it also contributed to the terrible spike of air pollution in the National Capital, he said.
Statesman News Service | New Delhi | October 20, 2022 11:32 pm
Terming the inauguration of a Waste-to-Energy Plant at the Tughlakabad area of in South Delhi as an election stunt, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Chaudhary Anil Kumar said, the BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has failed to clear the mountains of garbage at the three landfills of Delhi in its 15-year corrupt rule.
The inauguration of the Waste-to-Energy Plant by Union Home Minister Amit Shah was just a gimmick, after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a Rs. 900 Crores fine on the Delhi Government for not flattening the landfills, Kumar added.
Addressing the media at the DPCC office on Thursday, Ch. Anil Kumar said it is questionable whether the Home Minister was unaware of the Landfill Mountains at Okhla, Balaswa and Ghazipur, which have a combined volume of 300 lakh metric tons of garbage spread across 150 acres of public land.
Apart from the garbage mountain that earned Delhi a bad name, it also contributed to the terrible spike of air pollution in the National Capital, he said.
He further added that due to the incompetence and non-governance of both the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party, the NGT slapped a Rs. 900 Crores fine on Delhi for not clearing these three landfills, which are “Sentinels of Shame” for the national capital.
Ch. Anil Kumar shared insights of a survey conducted by Chicago University Air Quality Life in June 2022 that had named Delhi as the most polluted city in the world. The capital city was known as a clean and green city, when Congress was in power, Kumar said.
Cornering Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar said the Delhi CM had announced a 15-point Winter Action Plan on September 30, 2022 to combat pollution, but as the winter sets in, Delhi air is getting worse day by day, eventually damaging the health of the people.
He added, the Congress government had created waste-to-energy plants at Timarpur, Ghazipur and Narela-Bawana for processing 5220 tons of waste, from which 59 Megawatt power is generated, but due to the negative policies of the Kejriwal government, the agency which operated the Bawana plant, has shut.
A day after witnessing a little improvement, Delhi's air pollution levels registered a marginal spike of 22 points on Friday, reaching the upper end of the 'very poor' category recording average Air Quality Index value at 393.
He also asked the AAP government to explain to the public as to why it failed to meet the targets set for the 248 schemes across 22 departments of the city by October 2023.