Garbage dumping, burning rampant, say Noida residents

Noida: Even as pollution levels spike and environment agencies press for curbs on emission sources, waste burning continues unabated at different places in the city.

Noida: Even as pollution levels spike and environment agencies press for curbs on emission sources, waste burning continues unabated at different places in the city.

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According to residents, waste dumping and burning is a persistent issue for which they have approached officials of the Noida Authority as well as the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) in the past.

While the air quality index (AQI) oscillates between 300 and 400 in the ‘very poor’ category in the region, instances of waste burning have come to light from different residential areas including sectors 123, 51 and 54.

“Truck-loads of solid waste are often dumped near our residential apartment complex at night and the same is often set afire. The last time was three days back and the waste also included garbage from drains, apart from horticulture and solid waste. Thick smoke from the fires enters our apartments and causes discomfort,” says Dinesh Singh, an activist and a resident of a highrise in Sector 121, Noida.

He added that despite complaints, garbage dumping continues and that anyone can set it afire.

“Several instances of burning have been noticed in the past 10-12 days. The issue is that the dumping still continues unabated,” added Singh.

The residents of Sector 51 also said that horticulture waste was being burned near their complex.

“Dry waste burning in parks is a major issue. We have also registered a complaint on Tuesday. Some days back, a huge pile of dry waste and tree trimmings were set afire in a nearby park and the smoke kept rising for days. We have been also writing to the UPPCB over the same. However the question is why is dry waste being dumped in parks, where any miscreant can set it afire. There should be separate places to dump them,” said Sanjeev Kumar, general secretary, resident welfare association (RWA) Sector 51.

He added that several blocks of the sector are affected due to the smoke as it covers the area and given the weather conditions, with negligible wind speed during night hours, it does not disperse so easily.

Meanwhile, the UPPCB said that it has recommended to the Noida authority to manage the waste and act against miscreants.

“We have inspected the site and asked concerned officials to take action against those responsible. Waste should not be dumped at road sides but it is mostly miscreants who set it afire. Some of the garbage burning instances were not of that big a scale, but even so, concerned officials have been alerted,” said Praveen Kumar, regional officer, UPPCB, Noida.

Officials of the Noida authority did not respond to repeated calls and text messages till the time this copy went to print.