NEW DELHI: For years, thousands in the city have been paying the price for the 23MW of power produced by the Okhla waste-to-energy plant, which, despite complaints about its impact on people’s health and air quality, is deemed a lasting solution for the city’s thriving landfills. The Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Co Pvt Ltd, operated by the Jindal Group, has been operating since 2012 in association with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to burn almost 2,000 tonnes of garbage in an effort to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by converting its waste into energy.
However, since its operation 12 years ago, the plant’s usefulness has been a point of contention, with people living in its vicinity and in places where the fly ash is dumped, alleging aggravated health impact of the toxin released by the incineration of trash. In fact, the plant was fined for violating pollution norms, with the Central Pollution Control Board confirming that it produced volumes of toxic furans, dioxins, hydrogen chloride and respirable pollutants. The New York Times even recently reported of a high presence of heavy metals like cadmium in the soil and air samples around the plant and locales where the ash was being dumped.
TOI visited the localities to find out what residents of such areas felt about living in the proximity of the WTE plant.
Haji Colony: A grey haze hung over this south-east Delhi colony and its surrounding areas, located opposite the WTE facility, on Tuesday. There is an acrid smell in the air and the residents complain of persistent black ash settling on their homes and belongings. The densely packed area, stacked with three and four-storey buildings housing people from the lower strata of society, is directly exposed to whatever fumes are emitted by the plant.
Riyazuddin (46), a painter, said he cleans his house before leaving for work in the morning. “When I return home late in the evening, I find black residue everywhere, including utensils,” said Riyazuddin, who lives alone. “It becomes difficult to breathe during the winter season. We can feel more haziness in this area compared to other parts of the city,” said Riyazuddin while leaving for work.
House painter Mohammed Rashid, 32, has lived here since his birth and claimed, “The entire colony stinks. We cough all the time when we are exposed to the smoke from the plant.” He said that many people have been complaining about breathing problems. Another resident, Chand Bibi, complained that her two children were always sick and coughed constantly.
Sukhdev Vihar: The situation is similar at Sukhdev Vihar, hardly half a kilometre from the plant, where residents claimed they avoided venturing out at night when the incinerator released gases. The plant is visible from the balconies of most homes in this middle-, upper-middle-class residential area. Watery eyes, headaches, coughs and asthma were reported to be common ailments, with others suffering other medical problems.
The family of 36-year-old Dhruv Kapoor confines itself to the house during the evening when the plant operates. “My seven-year-old son, Mivaan, struggles with adenoids and it worsens due to high pollution during the winter. So, whenever smoke enters our home, he had to rely on antibiotics. We don’t let him play in the park,” said Kapoor, an executive in a private company.
Kapoor, who himself has chronic sinusitis, claimed to feel an improvement in his condition whenever he travelled out of Delhi on work. “My health deteriorates upon returning home,” he complained. “We are forced to use an air purifier in each of our three bedrooms.”
Kashish Hashim, who works in an IT firm, recalled her school days when she participated in protests against the pollution caused by the WTE plant. “Nothing much has changed since then,” alleged Hashim. “When we were growing up, some had asthma, others bronchiolitis. These were common ailments. Years later, we feel not much has changed. Rather, the situation has worsened. Our eyes sting, the skin itches and the stink is nauseating. I can feel the difference in the air as soon as I return home from work.”
Tajpur Pahari: Mounds of ash from the plant were dumped here through the years. Though the dumping of the hazardous remnants of the incineration has been discontinued and the ash covered with inert, the local people, mostly from low-income groups, said the effects continue to be felt. Jeevasi Devi, 39, said she often faces breathing problems. What has aggravated their problem is the poor civic amenities there, proof of this being a mountain of waste near Devi’s house. “This mound often catches fire and the smoke makes our lives miserable,” said Devi, shrugging in helplessness when asked why there was a fire regularly in the garbage heap.
Her neighbour, Kanchan Devi, regrets that they moved to this locality a few months ago. “We can feel the impact on our health since we moved here,” she maintained. “I cough more when I am exposed to smoke and dust.” She added that she ordered her children to stay indoors when the waste caught fire.
Khadda Colony: Walking down the undulating landscape from a small municipal landfill towards a park with children’s swings at Khadda Colony, one can suspect that the soil underneath is not just inert material. There’s an acrid smell emanating that reminds one of fireworks. This is the spot where, the NYT report said, cadmium levels in the soil were found to be nearly four times the threshold prescribed by the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency. An MCD official, however, claimed that fly ash from the Okhla WTE plant was sent to an engineered landfill site at Tehkhand and not dumped at Khadda Colony.
But there was an existential problem for the local residents, mostly belonging to lower middle-class households, till as late as last. Mohammed Yasin, a dry-fruits shop owner, said the summer was a difficult season because the hot winds ferried pollutants from the landfill to their homes and shops. “We are forced to down shutters in the afternoon because the situation is unbearable,” he claimed. “Breathing problems, watery eyes, headaches and coughs are most common during the summer and we have to make several rounds of the clinics for treatment. Most people have to cover their faces with clothes or masks to prevent inhaling the pollutants.” He said that when his son, who is an engineer in Bengaluru, returns home for holidays, he finds it difficult to live because of the pollution.
Tasleem, who has a bread shop in the colony, said that until last year, he saw the wind carrying clouds of ash with it and depositing the dark pollutants on clothes, vehicles, windows, walls, etc. “The air often smelt bad while elderly people complained of congestion in the chest. Even children would start coughing though it was summer,” claimed Tasleem. “Since we have to struggle like this, the colony’s residents have become acutely aware of air pollution and what it can do to one’s health.”
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