CPCB flags minor lapses at 3 Delhi waste-to-energy plants in affidavit

Affidavit reviews stack emissions, leachate treatment and combustion norms. Bawana flagged for dioxin and furan exceedances; Ghazipur, Tehkhand for effluent issues.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has told the National Green Tribunal that all four of Delhi’s waste-to-energy (WTE) plants hold valid consent to operate, though minor non-compliances persist at three of the facilities, according to an affidavit filed before the tribunal on February 9.

(Representative image) Okhla only plant meeting all norms. Past fines imposed by Delhi Pollution Control Committee; Ghazipur unit shut for months in 2022 for machinery upgrades. (HT Archive)

The submission, which outlines the status of WTE plants across nine states and one union territory, states that units in Delhi were operating with valid consent issued under the Water Act and the Air Act, along with authorisation under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It also noted that each plant “was reported to be complying with minimum operating temperatures in the secondary combustion chamber,” a key parameter to ensure complete combustion and limit formation of toxic by-products.

The CPCB examined four aspects at the plants: statutory consents or authorisations, minimum secondary-combustion temperatures, stack emissions and treated effluent from leachate treatment plants.

Okhla emerged as the only plant meeting all norms, the CPCB noted. By contrast, the Bawana WTE (M/s Delhi MSW Solutions Ltd) was flagged for exceedances in stack emissions. “All parameters of stack emission were found complying except for dioxin and furan,” the submission stated.

At the Ghazipur plant (East Delhi Waste Processing Company), stack emissions were broadly within limits but the leachate treatment system did not meet liquid effluent standards. “All parameters of treated effluent from the leachate Treatment plant were found complying except for Total dissolved solids (TDS) and chlorine,” it said, noting similar issues at the Tehkhand WTE, where the leachate treatment unit was meeting all norms except for chlorine.

Barring Tehkhand, inaugurated in October 2022, all three facilities have previously been fined by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee for non-compliance. The Ghazipur WTE was shut for over seven months in 2022 for machinery upgrades. In February 2017, the Okhla WtE was fined ₹25 lakh by the NGT after Sukhdev Vihar residents petitioned over its proximity to residential areas and pollution norms. It was fined another ₹5 lakh by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee in August 2021 when several parameters, including dioxin and furan values, were found to be about 10 times the permissible limit.