No evidence of wetland at proposed C&D waste plant in Ggn, says NGT

Gurugram: The path towards setting up of construction and demolition waste plant at Basai got easier for the Gurugram civic authorities as the green court on Thursday observed no evidences of wetland at the proposed site. The next date of hearing will be held on January 3 where the public officials are hoping for a favourable outcome.

"NGT judge has accepted that there is no wetland in Basai. They have given January 3 as the next date to the applicants to file their written views," said Sudhir Chauhan, senior town planner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram.

The work of the C&D plant was stayed in June this year. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to the Haryana Government, Ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and MCG.

The notices were sent after a petition filed by a group of environmentalists who raised objections over the C&D waste treatment plant at Basai which they claim is an ecologically sensitive area and sanctuary for birds.

The environmentalists claim that at a time the natural reserves for birds is decreasing in the area, the usage of 3.5 acres of wetland at Basai will further have an adverse impact on the birds population in the city. They rejected the MCG claims which says that area in which the plant is being set up is a wetland. The protest by the environmentalists can prolong the time for setting up of the plant that is expected to be functional from December this year.

From 2013 onwards, the MCG has been planning to open the C&D waste treatment plant, however various hurdles prevented the officials from going ahead with their plans.

In 2014, the MCG planned to set up the C&D treatment plant at Begum Pur Khatola but had to abandon the plan after the protest by the locals. It was in the mid 2016 that the alternative site at Basai was chosen by the MCG officials. Once completed the plant is expect 300 tonnes of construction and demolition waste