DMRC to upgrade sewage plants at Huda food court to avoid closure

Senior officials of the Delhi Metro met Haryana pollution control board last week and agreed to upgrade two sewage treatment plants (STPs) of the food court at Huda City Centre metro station and apply for fresh permission to operate.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) runs a food court at the Metro station and has constructed two STPs for treating waste water. But it did not seek permission from the pollution control board for their operation, the officials claimed.

“We have given them time to make the required changes and will soon conduct another inspection before giving them permission. We had a meeting with DMRC representatives and are hopeful that the modifications suggested will be made,” said Bhupender Singh, regional officer, pollution control board.

In December 2015, the pollution control board sent a notice to DMRC for causing water pollution.

Even through a notice was served to the DMRC, it did not take any steps to check pollution, following which a closure notice was served in March.

The notice was served as the two STPs releases 25 kilo litres per day (kld) and 100 kld, respectively. While the 25 kld capacity plant treats waste water generated from the station, the 100 kld capacity plant treats waste water generated from the restaurants in the food court. Both failed to fulfil the pollution norms.

However, even after two inspections, the pollution board was not satisfied with the result. It asked the DMRC to upgrade the STPs at Huda City Centre Metro station and submit a compliance report.

“As we did not receive any reply from the DMRC, we sent a closure notice to them. However, at present, we are waiting for them to submit a compliance report,” a pollution control board official said.

The spokesperson of the DMRC refused comment on the issue.