Noida: Residents of several sectors have urged Noida Authority to check instances of waste and dry leaves burning in their localities, which, they said, is adding to the bad air in the city. This comes after restrictions under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) III were imposed to tackle the rapidly deteriorating air quality across NCR.One of the sites where waste is burnt regularly is Central Ikon mall in Sector 105. Deepak Sharma, the president of the residents’ welfare association (RWA) of the sector, said a large amount of construction and commercial waste is unlawfully dumped near the mall site and then burned. “The accumulation of construction debris and garbage from nearby restaurants has transformed the area into a makeshift illegal dumping ground. When that waste dump is burned, it leads to very harmful emissions that can affect all those who live in the area,” he said.“Burning waste in a populated area violates National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines,” Sharma said, adding that the locals demanded immediate legal action against the builders and restaurant operators responsible for garbage burning, including charging them fines for environmental damage.
Commuters have said garbage is burned under the flyover along New Link Road in Ghaziabad
In Ghaziabad, NK Negi, a resident of Siddharth Vihar, said waste was being burned under the flyover along New Link Road.He said the flyover leads to New Bus Adda, the Old Delhi-Dehradun route and Mohan Nagar. It also connects Noida, Delhi and NH9, with areas in Ghaziabad like Rahul Vihar, Behrampur and Siddharth Vihar. “Over 50,000 people use the stretch daily,” he said.Meanwhile, residents in sectors 47 and 122 said piles of dry leaves have been lying unattended in parks and green belts, posing risks of accidental fires. Shiv Kumar Tiwari, RWA president of Sector 122, said, “In pockets, children are still bursting firecrackers. If one of these crackers land on these piles of dry leaves, it could result in a major fire that will not only cause damage to people’s lives but also add to the increasing pollution in the area.”
Piles of dry leaves are left untended in parks of sectors 47 and 122, posing risks of accidental fires
Tiwari said he has written to additional chief executive officer of Noida Authority Vandana Tripathi, requesting her to immediately address the situation.In response to the complaints, an Authority official said the waste from Sector 105 was cleared on Wednesday. He said the agency has taken note of the issues in the other sectors and will take steps to solve them too.
