DDA to green panel: Two new landfill sites approved

New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has approved two new landfills at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran areas, it told the National Green Tribunal on Monday.

Both the landfill sites fall under Zone-O (river and water-body area) where the green panel had prohibited construction and said that any activity would require its prior sanction.

The DDA said it has granted in-principle approval for the allotment of 88 acres at Sonia Vihar and a 42.5-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran for solid waste management facilities to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation , based on the reports of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and its analysis.

The EDMC had earlier moved the tribunal seeking urgent direction to the DDA to hand over a 130-acre piece of land at Sonia Vihar and a 50-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran for solid waste management facilities on a priority basis.

The tribunal has directed all the parties concerned file their responses within a week on the issue and posted the matter for further hearing on May 3.

“The only available site in the EDMC jurisdiction i.e. Ghazipur landfill site, which was fully saturated way back in 2000 still gets 1,600 metric tonnes of waste per day.