As India’s capital ushers in a new government, residents of Sanoth, a village in north-west Delhi, are demanding urgent action against a proposed waste-to-energy plant that could further poison their already toxic air. With air pollution emerging as an election issue late in the campaign, the protests highlight the persistent neglect of environmental concerns in city governance.
“For the first time in my life, I am forced to fight for clean air,” says Mange Ram, a 72-year-old farmer. He fears he may not live long enough to see the next five years if the pollution worsens. Delhi is the world’s most polluted capital city. Sanoth has been at the forefront of protests against the proposed 30-megawatt waste-to-energy plant in the adjacent Bawana Industrial Area, already home to around 30,000 industrial facilities.
Delhi currently operates four waste-to-energy plants, one of which, built in 2012, is already in Bawana. The new plant aims to process 3,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily, reducing the amount sent to the landfill by converting waste into renewable energy. But residents fear it will bring more pollution instead.
Election promises versus reality
After Delhi’s legislative assembly elections, held on 5 February, the city’s newly elected government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – which returned to power in the capital after almost three decades – faces immediate scrutiny over its stance on environmental issues.
Air pollution barely featured in early election campaigns, overshadowed by cash transfer and subsidy promises. However, in the final days of campaigning, BJP leaders, including central government minister Nitin Gadkari, pledged to clear Delhi’s landfills and combat air pollution – the only party to include it in their manifesto.
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Article 21 [of the Indian Constitution] gives us the right to life; this plant violates that. The landfill here is already 50 metres high, and it could soon rival Bhalswa and Ghazipur.
Rajpal Saini, retired sanitation superintendent, Sanoth
In the constituencies of Bawana and Narela, where the BJP also won, many residents cast their votes based on a single issue: cancelling the waste-to-energy project. “What’s more critical than clean air? You can live without food or water for a while, but not without air,” says Ram.
Villagers remain cautious. In 2012, they boycotted municipal elections to protest a new landfill, without success. This time, however, they sought political allies.
Protestors told Dialogue Earth that they received visits from BJP candidate Raj Karan Khatri and North West Delhi Member of Parliament Yogender Chandolia, who promised to halt the project. In a letter dated 27 January that was seen by Dialogue Earth, Chandolia formally requested that government ministries cancel the plant project.
But assurances aren’t enough. “We will only believe them when the cancellation is official,” says Sanoth resident Kaanta Devi, noting that politicians often visit, make promises, then disappear.
Kept in the dark
Villagers first learned about the project from a newspaper article, says Devi. Their fears stem from firsthand experience – years of exposure to pollution from a nearby landfill and the existing waste-to-energy plant have taken a toll on their health.
The new facility will be built on 15 acres of land – just one kilometre away from Sanoth. There is also a hazardous waste treatment facility in the area.
“Article 21 [of the Indian Constitution] gives us the right to life; this plant violates that,” says Rajpal Saini, a local resident and retired sanitation superintendent. He fears the plant will create yet another landfill in the area despite the size of the existing one: “The landfill here is already 50 metres high, and it could soon rival Bhalswa and Ghazipur,” he notes. The two landfills he refers to frequently catch fire and release toxic smoke.
According to locals, the consequences have been devastating. Residents report skin infections, kidney issues, respiratory diseases and weakened immunity. “We cough all day. We survive on medicines,” says Devi, whose family has been chronically ill since the first waste-to-energy plant was built in 2012.
“Waste-related air pollution is a major contributor to Delhi’s air crisis, from the towering garbage hills to the emission from existing waste-to-energy plants,” says Swati Singh Sambyal, an independent expert on waste and the circular economy.
A 2021 report by the Central Pollution Control Board found that Delhi’s waste-to-energy plants failed to comply with air quality standards. The plant in Bawana exceeded permissible levels of PM2.5 and PM10, which are tiny inhalable particles that can cause severe respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Following in the footprints of a preceding plant
Although the project is spearheaded by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, it will be executed by Jindal Urban Waste Management (Bawana) Limited, part of the same group that built the controversial Okhla waste-to-energy plant.
In 2024, an investigation by The New York Times revealed that the Okhla plant emits toxins like cadmium, lead, and arsenic into the atmosphere. The report exposed major health and safety violations, including toxic ash being dumped near residential areas and dioxin emissions exceeding legal limits by up to ten times. Residents of Sukhdev Vihar, an area adjacent to the Okhla plant, reported high incidences of respiratory illnesses and cancer following construction of the plant.
People in Bawana are all too familiar with the health implications that will come with another waste-to-energy plant. “They are aware of what a waste-to-energy plant can do. They have read about the Okhla plant,” says Bhavreen Kandhari, founder of Warrior Moms, a coalition of women fighting for their children’s right to clean air. Commenting on both Okhla and Bawana, Kandhari questions the logic of placing a landfill in a residential area.
Both Sambyal and Kandhari highlight Delhi’s failure to segregate waste. Ideally, these plants need non-recyclable waste, with high calorific value and low moisture content to function, explains Sambyal. These include plastic, rubber and cloth. But in Indian cities, municipal solid waste usually has high moisture content and low calorific value,” such as food and agricultural waste, “making combustion inefficient and hazardous,” he adds.
During a public hearing organised by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee in December 2024, a representative of Jindal Urban Waste Management (Bawana) Limited insisted that the plant would have the “necessary pollution control systems”, and that no dumpsite would be created. However, no details were provided. Jindal did not respond to Dialogue Earth’s request for comment.
Villagers also questioned why Bawana, along with JJ Colony, a resettlement colony for residents evicted from different parts of Delhi, and the CRPF Camp – a government-owned facility for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) – were excluded from the Environmental Impact Assessment draft, despite their proximity. “They conveniently omitted these areas to fast-track the clearance process,” alleges Saini.
Delhi’s systemic waste management failures
“Our children need schools, hospitals and dispensaries, but all they get is the city’s rubbish,” says Devi, pointing to the landfill. Saini asks why waste is dumped in areas like Bawana and Okhla, but not in central Delhi. “It’s an equity issue. Nobody should accept anything less than clean air,” says Kandhari.
Delhi generates over 14,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily, according to a central government affidavit filed in the Supreme Court. Only 10,700 tonnes are processed, with most of the remaining 3,000 tonnes ending up in the city’s landfills.
Kandhari describes this as a “complete failure” of Delhi’s waste management. Without proper segregation, they end up burning mixed waste. Instead of reducing landfill dependence, they worsen air quality and produce harmful ash, making them more of a pollution source than a solution.
Despite Delhi’s worsening air quality, Kandhari says that successive governments have all failed to address the issue. “There’s no political will to solve all these crises, whether it’s Yamuna River’s pollution, or air pollution,” she says.
If the plant moves forward, villagers plan to take their fight to court. For them, migration is not an option. “How can we leave our village? We would rather stay and fight – even if it kills us,” says Devi.
This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under a Creative Commons licence.
