Noida authority told to penalise vendor for waste burning

The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has asked the Noida authority to penalise and sensitise vendors after an incident of illegal dumping and open burning of waste came to its notice on Saturday.d

The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has asked the Noida authority to penalise and sensitise vendors after an incident of illegal dumping and open burning of waste came to its notice on Saturday.

We have also asked the officials to sensitise vendors not to dump any kind of waste and to transport it to authorised sites only said Anil Kumar Singh, regional officer, UPPCB, Noida. (HT PHOTO/Yogendra Kumar)

According to the UPPCB officials, a large pile of waste, mostly garden waste, was dumped by the Noida authority’s vendors at the green belt near the Hindon river, next to the FNG Road and burned. After noticing the smoke from a distance, a fire tender was rushed to douse the fire.

“Noida authority has vendors for all kinds of waste management. The fire cannot be natural as the region is seeing sporadic rain and even dry leaves don’t catch fire these days. The fire in question was intentionally started and upon our arrival, the violators fled. While open dumping of waste is illegal, burning it is even worse, and there are clear guidelines against both offences,” Anil Kumar Singh, regional officer, UPPCB, Noida, said.

Singh said he has forwarded a letter to the officer on special duty (OSD), Noida authority, to find out which vendor had dumped and burned the green waste and slap an environment compensation against the person concerned. The UPPCB official said they are also urging the authority to sensitise its officials against the open burning of garbage.

Noida authority officials said that they came to know about the incident and a team was rushed to the spot to inspect. Officials said the vendor concerned has been directed to take strict action.

“The waste was dumped and burned in a green belt area and we have directed the official concerned — the deputy director of the horticulture division-1 — to fix the responsibility and take strict action against the violator,” Avinash Tripathi, OSD, health, Noida authority, said.

UPPCB officials said the action was necessary especially after the Supreme Court-appointed Environmental Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) had recently held a meeting with the district administration, the Noida authority and the UPPCB to check instances of environment rules violations as winter is approaching. The pollution in Delhi-NCR spikes in winters, especially after Diwali due to fireworks as well as stubble burning in neighbouring states.

“We have also asked the officials to sensitise vendors not to dump any kind of waste and to transport it to authorised sites only,” Singh said.