The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought response of the Union Government and civic bodies on a plea seeking cancellation of the approval by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to allot land at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran areas to set up landfill sites.
A Bench headed by Acting Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim issued notice to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Delhi Development Authority, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, East Delhi Municipal Corporation and sought their reply before May 14, the next date of hearing.
The Supreme Court had on May 4 stayed the proceedings related to the landfill sites at Ghazipur and Bhalswa in Delhi pending before the tribunal.
The tribunal’s notice came on a plea filed Ghonda MlA Shri Dutt Sharma and others seeking a direction to restrain the DDA from allotting an area of 130 acres at Sonia Vihar and a 50-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran to the EDMC for handling and processing waste.
The petition, filed through advocate Abhinav Singh, said that if the project is started by the EDMC for landfill sites at the two areas, it will adversely affect the ecosystem and the overall ecology since there are several densely populated colonies nearby. It said the approval was based on wrong facts and that it violated the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.