New Delhi

A bombshell report by the New York Times has revealed that Delhi’s Okhla waste-to-energy plant, touted as an eco-friendly solution to landfill menace, is exposing over a million residents to dangerous chemicals and emissions. The report revealed that the ash that is dumped from the Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management plant near residential areas in capital city’s Badarpur border is exposing millions to toxic emissions containing cadmium, lead, and arsenic.

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Making things worse, the area is close to various schools and children’s parks, putting kids at the highest risk.

Brief history of the plant

Delhi’s Okhla plant was established in 2012 to address two of the capital city’s most pressing issues: Waste management and energy shortage. The plant was meant to convert up to 2,000 tonnes of trash daily into approximately 23 megawatts of electricity.

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But over the years, the facility, run by Jindal Group's JITF Intralogistics in a public-private partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, turned into a toxic menace itself. By prioritising cost-cutting measures over public safety, the plant failed to uphold pollution controls.

The NYT teams collected samples from around the plant over five years between 2019 and 2023 and found they contained dangerously high levels of heavy metals and pollutants.

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According to the report, cadmium levels were measured at 19 times the allowable limit, manganese at 11 times, arsenic at 10 times, lead at four times, and cobalt at three times. Prolonged exposure to these metals may result in severe health complications, including respiratory diseases, cancer, neurological disorders, and complications during pregnancy.

The findings from the New York Times further confirm internal government reports that have indicated significant dioxin emissions from the facility—reaching up to 10 times the legal limit—according to government documentation.

The effect is visible on local residents. Most of the people living around the plant suffer from respiratory illnesses, skin boils, and black phlegm production.

(With inputs from agencies)