Ghaziabad landfill protest: Indirapuram extends support to stir

The sit-in against the ‘illegal’ solid waste dumping at the Pratap Vihar landfill got a fillip on Thursday, the second day of the protest, when residents of Indirapuram joined it as well. Fearing dumping at night by corporation vehicles, the residents from Siddharth Vihar and nearby localities have now put up tents at the entrance of the site.

As was the case on Wednesday, the residents on Thursday stopped 10-12 corporation trucks that tried to enter the landfill area. The solid waste monitoring committee, constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), had directed the Ghaziabad municipal corporation to stop solid waste dumping at the city’s only landfill site after January 15.

“We stopped the trucks on Thursday as well. The sit-in is now indefinite and we have put up tents near the site to ensure that the corporation doesn’t dump waste at night. We are gathering support from nearby localities and traders’ associations as well for our protest,” Asif Chaudhary, municipal councillor from Mirzapur, said. Chaudhary is also a board member of Ghaziabad Development Authority.

“We have sent our complaints about the dumping activity to the monitoring committee. The residents were sitting on dharna for entire night,” Abhishek Singh, general secretary of Ganga-yamuna Hindon Apartment, said.

Meanwhile, other residents’ bodies have also supported the agitation. “The site is barely 400500 metres from our high-rises in Ahimsa Khand. Residents keep their windows and doors shut due to foul smell. We support the protest against the dumping at the landfill site,” Alok Kumar, president of the Federation of Apartment Owners, Indirapuram, said.

Kuldeep Saxena, coordinator of the Confederation of Transhindon RWAS, said, “Like them, we are also fighting to shift small landfill site at Indirpauram and our petition is pending with NGT.” .

The monitoring committee officials said that they did not receive any application from the corporation for extension. “We have a meeting on Friday, and will take up the issue as we have received complaints from residents,” retired Judge Rajendra Singh, secretary of the committee, said.

In the meantime, some sanitation workers of the corporation allegedly tried to dig up pits and dump waste at a plot belonging to UP Avas Vikas Parishad (AVP) in Vasundhara’s Sector 7. “We have received the complaint from AVP and are looking into it ,” said Ravi Kumar, assistant superintendent of police (Indirapuram).

Corporation officials declined comments on the police complaint given by AVP. “The protest has hampered dumping activity but we have decided not to stop garbage lifting from localities,” said CP Singh, municipal commissioner.

First Published: Jan 18, 2019 14:32 IST