Ghaziabad: 150 people booked for ‘stone-pelting’ at protest against waste plant in Loni

The FIR was registered following a complaint by Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) officials late Sunday

Police on Monday registered a first information report (FIR) against five named and 150 unidentified people, including 50 women, over alleged stone-pelting during a protest over new solid waste management plant in Ghaziabad’s Loni.

After the FIR, the farmers said that they will also approach the police with a complaint, alleging that 18-20 people suffered injuries after the lathi-charge by police. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The FIR was registered following a complaint by Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) officials late Sunday. The complaint alleges that the suspects, armed with rods and sticks, broke the lock of the upcoming plant in Loni’s Mirpur Hindu village and allegedly injured policemen who tried to stop them, said police officials.

“The farmers have been protesting the new solid waste processing plant, and they staged a protest at the site on Sunday. Police had to use a lathi-charge against certain miscreants who tried to fuel the protest and resorted to stone-pelting,” Siddharth Gautam, assistant commissioner of police (Loni circle), told HT.

The FIR has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 191 (rioting), 117 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 125 (act endangering life and personal safety of others), 333 (house trespass after preparation of hurt), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), as well as section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act at Tronica City police station.

After the FIR, the farmers said that they will also approach the police with a complaint, alleging that 18-20 people suffered injuries after the lathi-charge by police.

“The police lathi-charged farmers, including women, protesting at a road about 500 metres from the solid waste plant. There was stone-pelting by some miscreants, and later also from cops,” Neeraj Tyagi, a protester at the site, told HT.

The farmers continued their protest on Monday near a temple in the village. They say around 15 villages, including Mirpur Hindu, Paychara, Badarpur, Alipur, Nawada, among others, are opposed to the construction of the new plant at the site.

“We have been protesting for 40 days against the new plant, close to our villages that will affect villagers in the form of unhygienic surroundings,” said Tyagi.

The protesters further said that the MCG does not have jurisdiction in the area as it falls under Loni Nagar Palika. The FIR, they alleged, is pressure tactic.

“The corporation has asked us for a meeting on Tuesday, but registering an FIR is a pressure tactic. We will not succumb to pressure. Many farmers and women sustained injuries in police action but officials have turned blind eye towards us,” said Monu Tyagi, another protester.

Surendra Nath Tiwary, DCP (rural zone), told HT that two policemen suffered minor injuries on Sunday.

“Farmers, claiming to have a list of injured people and other allegations, can give it to the police. We will inquire. We have deployed about 100 personnel from the civil police and also from the provincial armed constabulary at the site till further orders,” the DCP added.

MCG officials said that the plant was under the Loni Nagar Palika and it was handed over to the civic body around three months ago. “It is because the Palika was not able to run it properly. It was conceived in 2012, and construction was completed in 2021. The plant has been set up on government land of about 8.265 hectares,” MCG’s city health officer Mithilesh Kumar told HT.

Kumar further said, “There are certain people who have been fuelling the protests. We have given a complaint about Sunday’s protest for an FIR,”

At present, the plant has not started operations but will able to handle 1,600-2,000 metric tons per day, Kumar said. “The machines have been set up to initially cater to about 500 metric tons of solid waste from Loni.”

“We will now take statutory permissions and no-objection certificates before starting the operations of the plant. A meeting is proposed with the farmers/protestors on Tuesday,” Kumar added.

According to Kumar, ₹12 crore by the MCG along with ₹18 crore of government funds have been invested in the plant and in the construction of separate roads leading to it. He added that about ₹35 crore has also been invested by the private vendor who will take up operations of the plant.