New Delhi: Dhruv Kapoor watches his seven-year-old son grapple with adenoids that flare up each winter as pollution levels rise. “He ends up relying on antibiotics on days when the city’s air gets really bad,” says Kapoor, treasurer of the RWA of Pocket A, Sukhdev Vihar.
Kapoor himself battles chronic sinusitis, a condition that he says only worsens with toxic air. “The smoke from a nearby waste-to-energy plant entering our home adds to the problem,” he tells ThePrint. He adds that the only time he feels relief is when he travels out of town.
His elderly parents, practically confined within the walls of their home with an air purifier, have prayed forever for this condition to change.
Kapoor’s story depicts the human cost of living in close proximity to a waste-to-energy plant — a burden carried by tens of thousands whose countless sighs and utter helplessness narrate a vivid story of their years-long struggle.
India’s first, and largest at the time of its inauguration in 2012, the Timarpur Okhla waste-to-energy plant was touted as a solution to Delhi’s mounting solid waste problem.
The origin of the plant can be traced back to 2008 when a letter of intent was awarded to the Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd (JUIL) to develop the project on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The JUIL, according to a report by Economic Times, had won an open tender to build and operate the plant for 25 years.
According to its official website, the Okhla waste-to-energy plant is equipped with a flue gas cleaning system, which when combined with proper combustion, ensures that emission standards are maintained. The plant also has a leachate treatment facility.
In 2011, the Delhi government issued permission for the plant to be operational subject to approvals from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
The plant, which burns combustible waste of high calorific value, has a capacity to generate 23 megawatts (MW) of power after utilising 1,950 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day. It has handled more than 6 million metric tonnes of MSW to date.
It currently processes an estimated 1,800 metric tonnes per day of MSW per day, generating 16 MW of power, while also producing two byproducts: ash and smoke/gas emissions.
For residents of Sukhdev Vihar, Haji Colony, Sarita Vihar, Jasola, New Friends Colony, and other nearby colonies in Delhi’s South East district, they say the plant has been a source of constant agony. They have been fighting a legal battle since the plant was proposed, demanding its relocation citing the health hazard it allegedly poses.
Despite several petitions, and court cases filed over the last decade, residents say the government is yet to take meaningful action, leaving them to suffer the consequences.
Residents of Sukhdev Vihar had initially filed a writ petition against the then proposed plant in the Delhi High Court in 2009, which the court dismissed. An application was later filed in the high court seeking a review of its earlier order, but the court ordered in 2013 that the case be transferred to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Despite emissions of harmful toxins such as dioxins, furans, and heavy metals, as claimed by petitioners, the NGT allowed the plant to continue to operate in 2017, rejecting residents’ plea for its relocation, albeit with a direction to the plant to pay Rs 25 lakh as environmental compensation for previous pollution violations.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines dioxins as a “highly toxic” group of compounds that can “cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and cause cancer”. Furans, on the other hand, can cause liver damage and cancer of the liver, as per WHO.
Unsatisfied with the NGT verdict, residents then filed an appeal in the Supreme Court in 2017. The case was due for hearing on 18 July, 2024, but was not listed.
Further, in 2021, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Delhi’s three waste-to-energy plants (Okhla, Narela-Bawana and Ghazipur) for failing to meet prescribed environmental norms.
The Print reached the office landline of the Timarpur Okhla Waste Management Company Ltd, which manages the Okhla plant, but it was unreachable.
The plant is located approximately 35-40 metres from Sukhdev Vihar DDA flats and Haji colony, seemingly in violation of a 2016 manual by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which clearly says that such plants must be located at least 300-500 metres from residential areas.
As a result, residents of Sukhdev Vihar and nearby localities say they have been battling noise and air pollution due to the plant for over a decade now. It disrupts daily life and causes stress and sleep disturbances for all age groups, says Kapoor, quoted earlier.
“The thick smoke emanating from the Okhla plant’s burner not only deteriorates air quality significantly but also leads to respiratory issues, especially among senior citizens, who comprise over 40 percent of the population of our colony,” he adds.
Nivit Yadav, programme director of the Industrial Pollution Unit at Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), explains the situation thus: “Waste-to-energy plants emit particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and heavy metals which can worsen respiratory conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and increase risks of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.”
The plant in Okhla is one of four currently operational in Delhi. The other three are at Ghazipur, Narela-Bawana and Tehkhand. The total processing capacity of the four is 5,250 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day using which they generate 52 MW electricity.
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‘What is the value of such a home?’
Many residents, unable to bear the health risks, have been forced to sell their properties and move out of the neighbourhood completely, Ranjit Devraj, another resident of Sukhdev Vihar admits.
A former resident, aged 37, who did not wish to be named, tells ThePrint that he was once a proud homeowner in Jasola Vihar, but was forced to sell his house and move to Saket last year. He says his decision came after years of struggling with respiratory problems, persistent foul smells, and an unsatisfactory response from the authorities.
“We couldn’t bear the ill-effects of living in this area anymore. Every day I was seeing my family members falling sick, especially my children.
“Ek insaan paisa kyu kamata hai? Apne baccho ke liye ek achha ghar kharidne ke liye, lekin jab ussi ghar me jeena mushkil ho jaye, toh aise ghar ki kya value hai,” he laments.
(Why does a person earn money? To buy a good house for his children, but when it becomes difficult living in it, what is the value of such a house?)
On the other side of the Okhla waste-to-energy plant lies Haji colony, a congested settlement visibly neglected by civic authorities.
Imraana, a shopkeeper in the Haji colony market, sits behind her small counter, worry etched on her face. As a mother of two, aged 5 and 7, she expresses deep regret about having moved from her hometown in Uttar Pradesh to this area. “Itna ganda area hai, agar kaam yaha nahi hota, toh kab ka bahar chale jaate, bas yahi majboori hai,” she laments.
(This is such an unclean area, if there was no work here, we would have moved out much earlier, that’s the only compulsion)
For her, the foul smell, the dust and allegedly toxic fumes emanating from the plant makes it nearly impossible to breathe freely in her newly made home. Imraana fears the ill effects of the constant smoke on her children’s health in the long term.
A few lanes down the street, a young man lifts the shutter of his shop, a dusty grey cloth tied tightly around his nose and mouth. The makeshift mask, though clearly meant to protect him from foul smell and pollutants, invites curiosity.
Asked why he wears it, he sighs and reveals that he suffers from asthma. He has lived in Haji Colony for the past decade, but the last three years have been particularly harsh since his diagnosis. “I have to visit the doctor so often because of the smoke here,” he says.
“During winters, it’s even worse. The air gets so bad that my condition deteriorates rapidly.”
Thousands of residents of Haji colony like him, occupying narrow lanes dumped with garbage on either side, still continue to hope for a different life. Efforts to get the government’s attention, they say, have often fallen on deaf ears.
When The Print reached Mukesh Goel, Leader of the House, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), for comment on the issue, he responded by saying, “Hamara ek hi objective hota hai, ki jab bhi logo ko kisi bhi tarah ki pareshani aaye, uske liye hum samadhan kare.”
(We have only one objective, whenever people face any kind of problem, we will resolve it)
Asked whether the MCD had come up with any specific solutions in connection with the issue, he talked about initiatives taken in the past for solid waste management, but did not mention any specific ones aimed at alleviating the suffering of those living in close proximity to waste-to-energy plants.
“We feel abandoned, as authorities have visited the locality multiple times, every single time with no real solution,” says Mohammad Zeeshai, a resident and shopkeeper in Haji Colony.
Residents of Sukhdev Vihar, though relatively better off, relate to residents of Haji Colony.
One recounts the daily struggles that she says have plagued her family for a decade now. “I have faced constant breathing problems, and my children have contracted very frequent infections and allergies, since we moved here,” she tells ThePrint.
She says she feels as if their basic right to have clean air has been snatched away. “Aise bahut din hote hai jab ham apne ghar ki windows nahi khol sakte kyon ki bahut zyada smell aati hai,” she says.
(There are so many days when we cannot even open the windows of our house due to foul smell)
“Regulatory bodies like MCD and DPCC have struggled with inadequate monitoring and a lack of transparency, often being lenient due to pressure to reduce waste. Stricter norms, joint inspections, timely local testing, and public engagement are necessary to address these issues,” says Yadav.
The Print reached DPCC chairman Ashwani Kumar, but he refused to comment.
But, the residents have not pulled back from the fight. Numerous RWAs of surrounding localities have joined hands to combat this pressing issue. “We hope the Supreme Court will be sympathetic to the residents’ plight and we will get a more permanent solution, restoring health to our beloved neighbourhood,” says Kapoor.
Devangi Jain is an intern with ThePrint
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