Green panel stays construction at Noida landfill site

NOIDA: The National Green Tribunal has stayed construction activity on the landfill site in Sector 123 here after a commission appointed by it found that the project had been formulated without following the guidelines. The Noida Authority has also been restrained from carrying out digging or construction till the next hearing.


The principal bench of the tribunal headed by its chairman, Justice Swatanter Kumar, imposed the stay based on the local commissioner’s report on the landfill’s distance from human habitations. The Authority officials are yet to appear before the tribunal to clarify their stance despite getting court notices. The commission filed its report—TOI has a copy—with the tribunal on Tuesday.

The commission found that the Authority had started construction on the site without obtaining the mandatory approval from Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB). Habitations, including villages, residential sectors and ongoing housing projects, were found to be in proximity to the site on all sides in clear violation of the norms.

A petition had been filed by Go Green Welfare Association, a Noida-based organization of residents and homebuyers. Advocate Sumeer Sodhi had been appointed as commissioner by the tribunal. The report was prepared after Sodhi inspected the site on May 25 in the presence of senior Authority officials, including project engineers and the health department officials, UPPCB officials and representatives of the residents’ association.

The petitioners had alleged that the site chosen was amid habitations, which is in violation of the Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000. A landfill cannot be near a residential cluster, a state highway or a river.