NEW DELHI: Residents living around the capital’s waste-to-energy (WTE) plants at Okhla, Narela-Bawana, Ghazipur and Tehkhand are among the worst hit by pollution as Delhi gasps under a shroud of very poor air.People in these neighbourhoods say the air is foul all year, and the situation is unbearable in winter, especially when the plants, burning about 8,000 MT of poorly segregated solid waste every day, emit spurious gases and particulate pollutants so close to residential areas.
Families complain of persistent smoke, an acrid odour and a stench of burning through the night.
The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), however, offers no measure to curb WTE emissions during peak pollution days. Communities living in the shadow of the plants face the double burden of chronic and seasonal pollution, even as one of Delhi’s most contentious sources of emission remains virtually untouched, even under emergency pollution control measures.”GRAP suggests that people should be indoors during peak pollution hours, but in our locality, we can’t even do that because it’s suffocating indoors as well,” said Rajpal Saini from Sanoth village, close to the Narela-Bawana plant.“Not a single person here is without a disease. We can’t breathe properly. In the early morning when people go for walks, one can’t imagine going towards the plant. I would request authorities to come visit us during the peak pollution hours, or at least install an AQI monitoring station in the area to get the real picture. If the plants are brought under the ambit of GRAP, and some kind of curbs are imposed, it might help us,” said Saini.In Sukhdev Vihar, which is metres away from the Okhla plant, residents have been facing the ordeal for years. “GRAP covers power plants within a 300-km radius of Delhi but not the WTE plants in densely packed areas. We demand that the plant be brought under GRAP, and some curbs should be placed because they are heavily polluting. Even CPCB and DPCC found toxic pollutants being emitted from there. There are three major hospitals in the area, and the impact of pollution is felt not just in Sukhdev Vihar but also in Jasola, Sarita Vihar, New Friends Colony, and Haji Colony,” said UK Bharadwaj, the president of the Sukhdev Vihar RWA.Delhi has four operational WTE plants. A fifth one at Bawana has got central clearance.On paper, the plants seem to solve two problems. They process the city’s mounting waste and partially fulfil its energy demand. As of 2024, Delhi generated over 11,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily, of which over 7,000 tonnes went to these plants. The absence of oversight on these plants is striking, given the growing complaints of residents. No reply came from CAQM on the matter.
