‘Please Protect Our Right to Live': Women Protesters Write to CJI, Oppose Second Waste Plant in Bawana
Women from Sanoth village in Delhi's Narela zone have been staging a peaceful protest against the setting up of a second waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Bawana. Photo by arrangement
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New Delhi: For the past 150 days, a group of women – mothers, grandmothers, and homemakers –from Sanoth village in Delhi's Narela zone have been staging a peaceful protest against the setting up of a second waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in the area, where locals say they already face pollution-related health hazards due to the presence of an existing WTE plant.
With folded hands and unwavering resolve, they have now made an emotional appeal to the highest judicial authority in the country: the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
In a letter sent on May 20 to the CJI, the women describe their lives as 'forgotten,' forced to live in what they call 'Delhi's dumping ground'.
'Garbage from across the city comes here, into our homes, into our skies, and into our lungs,' the letter reads.
Sanoth village, situated on the outer edge of Delhi in Bawana, already suffers under the shadow of a massive WTE plant that burns thousands of tonnes of unsegregated municipal waste daily.
The residents say this has turned the air toxic. Children cough through the night, elderly residents battle respiratory and kidney ailments, and young women are falling ill at alarming rates.
'We already have three dumping grounds and countless polluting industries, where are we supposed to go now? My daughter complains of stinging eyes and chest pain. Is this the cost of living in our own village?' says Vimla, a resident.
Ignored by elected leaders
Despite writing letters to their local MLA and MP, the women say their protests have been met with silence. No official has visited them. Instead, they now face an even harsher blow: approval for a second WTE plant just 800 meters from the village. This new facility will process an additional 3,000 tonnes of Delhi's waste everyday.
'Another fire. Another furnace,' their letter to the CJI states. 'It won't just burn garbage, it will burn what little peace we have left.'
The women describe how their children, instead of playing freely, now struggle to run for even a minute.
'Their tiny lungs are already damaged. We may not have data or reports, but this is our everyday reality. We know what it feels like to sit beside a sick child and wonder if the air itself is killing them,' say the women.
A fight for the right to breathe
Since their protest began on December 20, the women of Sanoth have braved Delhi's harsh winter and scorching summer, refusing to relent. Their demand is simple yet profound: the right to breathe clean air.
In their letter to the CJI, they invoke Article 21 of the Constitution, the fundamental right to life.
'If development means breathing in cancerous fumes, drinking contaminated water, and watching our grandchildren suffer, then what is this, development or destruction?' they ask.
Environmental experts have also raised concerns about such projects. Reports by organisations such as the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) have warned that incineration of unsegregated waste, especially in densely populated and industrial zones, poses grave health and ecological risks.
Yet in working class neighborhoods like Bawana, these concerns are often ignored.
'We are not included in decisions that affect our lives,' the letter states. 'Plans are made for us, never with us.'
'Please stand with us, Hon'ble Sir. Please protect our children. Please protect our right to live,' the letter adds.
For the women of Sanoth, this plea to the Chief Justice may be their final hope.
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