Group protesting against Bandhwari waste-to-energy plant detained in Gurugram

On Friday, around 26 people were detained in Gurugram while protesting against a Waste to Energy plant being set up there.

Those detained belonged to a group of 50-odd people who wanted to catch the attention of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who was on his way to lay the foundation stone of a waste burning plant at Bandhwari landfill. They wanted to submit a petition to the CM that had garnered over 33000 signatures against the plant.

Jyoti Raghavan, a member of the Aravalli Bachao Movement and one of those detained, says that the protestors wanted the government to implement solid waste management rules, but instead what they’re doing now is burning up 35 lakh tonnes of waste that’s lying in the landfill.

“They claim that they will generate electricity from this waste. But they will end up using more energy than producing, because it is unsegregated waste,” says Raghavan.

Raghavan also criticises the fact that this plant will be set up on 10 acres of land in the Aravalli forest, out of the 32 acres of the forest land that has already been taken up by the landfill.

A press note released by the Aravalli Bachao Movement quoted Roma J. Vinayak, a waste expert, as saying, “2000 tonnes of mixed waste is dumped at Bandhwari landfill in the Aravallis everyday. The toxic leachate from the landfill has poisoned the underground water. More than 60 people have died of cancer in Bandhwari village alone. Many more suffer from liver ailments and other health problems.”

Raghavan asserted that the waste to energy model has failed the world over, and since our waste is mixed, it might just create more problems for the environment.

She added, “It’s more frustrating because they obtained clearances for the plant on false grounds. No environmental assessment was done, and hundreds of Haryana villagers and waste experts even registered their opposition against this.” She adds that a WTE plant that is already running in Okhla is a serious cause of trouble for the residents there because of pollution and fly ash.

Neelam Ahluwalia, another protester, wrote in the press note, “The composition of Indian waste does not support this technology. 50 to 70 percent of our waste is wet food waste which is not suitable for burning. Calorific value of Indian waste is too less for it to burn efficiently to produce electricity. 20 percent of our waste is dry recyclable waste. We do not need such a high capital intensive technology to burn 10 percent of our non recyclable, non compostable waste. This can be sent to already existing cement plants.”

What happened on Friday was unconstitutional, said the protesters. They claim that all they did was stand by the roadside with posters in their hands. The police officials told them that they were flouting Covid norms, asked them to disperse, tore off their posters, manhandled some of the male protesters, and huddled them in a bus, says Raghavan.

She added, “They drove us around for 40-45 minutes and then took us to Palam Vihar police station, where they kept us for four hours.”

However, Raghavan also noticed an interesting change in the behaviour of the police officials. She says that while they were manhandled initially, the police officials treated them quite politely and even offered them chai pakoda after they told them the reason for their protest. “We made them understand the whole problem and how they and their children would also be affected,” she says.