Galand locals protest solid waste being dumped from Ghaziabad

For the past month, locals have been protesting attempts by the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation to dump Ghaziabad’s solid waste at Galand, which is a designated site for a waste-to-energy plant

Farmers and locals from about 20-25 villages held a panchayat at Galand village in Hapur and unanimously decided to not allow solid waste from Ghaziabad to be dumped in their area anymore. For the past month, locals have been protesting attempts by the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation to dump Ghaziabad’s solid waste at Galand, which is a designated site for a waste-to-energy plant.

MLA Aslam Chaudhary from Dhaulana in Hapur district at the protest meeting. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The farmers and members of different associations held a panchayat at Galand where locals have also been staging a dharna for the past few days against attempts by the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation to dump solid waste at Galand.

“We have decided that we will not allow solid waste to be dumped in the area as it will lead to contamination and unhygienic conditions. This will affect our local population and also environment of neighbouring villages. We demand that administrative officers come and meet us over the issue and discuss our problems. The land given to the corporation was taken from farmers by the private developers. The farmers had no clues about the land usage,” said Rajiv Tomar, a resident and lawyer.

The farmers said that people from different villages such as Galand, Masuri, Lakhan, Masoda, Hindalpur, Chhajarsi, Kheda, Basitpur, Kakrana, Dhabarsi and Fagota among others, participated in Monday’s panchayat.

“We have called a mahapanchayat on November 21 when more people will join the protest. On Monday, about 1,200 people gathered from about 20-25 villages to discuss the issue. Till our grievances are heard, we will not allow any dumping of solid waste at Galand. When people in Ghaziabad are opposing the dumping of waste near their city, why should we allow Ghaziabad’s waste in our area?” said Sanjay Khori, gram pradhan of Galand village in Hapur district.

The waste-to-energy plant is proposed over an area of 44.25 acres of land at Galand, which is currently owned by Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.

“We are working to resolve issues at Galand and several administrative steps are being taken. The waste-to-energy plant is proposed to process a capacity of about 2,500 metric tonnes of solid waste. Once it starts, it will process 1,500 metric tonnes of waste,” said MS Tanwar, commissioner of Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.

Ghaziabad generates about 1,200 metric tonnes of daily solid waste currently and the corporation faces a major challenge in its disposal as two of its landfill sites at Indirapuram and Pratap Vihar have been shut.