MCD garbage issue: No evidence to prove trucks were carrying solid waste, say police

The claims by the Ghaziabad municipal corporation that solid waste from Delhi was allegedly being transported in trucks to Ghaziabad’s waste processing site in Morta, have fallen flat, with the Ghaziabad police in its final report stating that there was no evidence to suggest that the trucks were carrying solid waste.

The issue started on June 30 this year, after mayor Sunita Dayal on June 30 seized nine trucks, which she claimed were from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), ferrying solid waste to Ghaziabad’s Morta for processing.

On her directions, the corporation lodged an FIR at Nandgram police station against officials of Geron Engineering, the agency contracted to operate the Morta waste plant. She further alleged that Delhi’s waste was getting processed in Ghaziabad and the firm was charging Ghaziabad corporation for that.

Bur Geron Engineering denied the allegations and said the trucks were carrying refuse derived fuel (RDF) to its private plant in Bahadarpur and not Morta. MCD also refuted the allegations and said no waste was ever sent to Ghaziabad for processing.

The company officials also submitted to the corporation and police the GPS tracking data from the nine vehicles and also documents mentioning that it was ferrying RDF and not solid waste.

“The police have filed a final report in the case. There was no evidence of presence of solid waste in trucks. It was probably RDF,” said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (city).

When approached, mayor Dayal said she still maintains that it was solid waste and not RDF, which the trucks were ferrying.

“We still maintain that it was not RDF but solid waste in the trucks that were seized. None of our officials till date has ever said that the trucks contained RDF. RDF is also a type of solid waste. After the controversy erupted, the site at Morta was shut. However, keeping in mind the unhygienic conditions that would have prevailed during the Kanwar Yatra season, we again asked the company to resume waste processing,” Dayal said.

An official from corporation’s health department said the police have filed a final report in the case.

“We have come to know that the police have filed a final report in the case but we are yet to receive the report. The same company, Geron Egineering, is taking up waste processing in Morta and also at our new site on Pipeline Road. But, they are only processing the accumulated solid waste in Morta while the fresh waste is going to the site on Pipeline Road,” the official said, asking not to be named.

On the other hand, Ankit Agarwal, chief executive officer of the waste processing company, Geron Engineering, said: “We have cooperated with all the agencies concerned and we believe in the findings of the police.”