In a bid to prevent the national capital from the hazardous industrial waste, the Delhi government is seeking help from the neighbouring state Haryana. The environment department of Delhi government has written a letter to its Haryana counterpart seeking help for treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDF) for the hazardous industrial waste.
The department had dispatched the letter in September and is waiting for a favourable reply from the Haryana government.
“Haryana has a large TSDF in the Pali area near Faridabad town. The performance of the TSDF is appreciable and the city government needs same kind of facility to get rid of the hazardous industrial wastage,” said a senior Delhi government official.
According to a government data, Delhi has noticed a 500 per cent rise in the industrial units in last 30 years. In the year 1961, 18,500 industrial units were operating in Delhi and the numbers have been increased to 93,000 in 2011.
“Most of these small-scale industries produce polythene, nylon, chloroform, lead, rubber and insecticide items which causes heavy hazardous waste,” the official added.
According to the data from Central Pollution Control Board, around 2,000 metric tones of poisonous gases and around 300 million litres of waste water and corrosive liquid by products are pumped in to the environment every day.
Earlier a court has ordered the closure and relocation of about 9,000 such industrial units who flaunt the government norms of hazardous wastage. These are prohibited in the national capital according to the city’s 35-year-old Master Plan. Others include those that violate the air and water standards of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
Delhi is also responsible for 71 per cent of pollution in the Yamuna river. It pumps a huge 1,700 million litres of human and industrial wastage from 17 open drains in just two percent of the river banks which touches the city.
The city government is planning to built a common TSDF in Kanjhawala and Ghummanhera villages of Delhi.