The incinerator was set up under the PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) scheme of the Union Ministry of Tourism, which can process a tonne of waste every day. Photo: The Hindu
A solid-waste incinerator installed at Gangotri, in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, has inflamed environmental and social-activist groups. The plant, which is equipped to combust municipal solid waste, is an “extremely polluting unit”, according to opponents, and thus, cannot be installed within the Gangotri National Park, which lies inside the Bhagirathi Eco Sensitive Zone (BESZ), according to Central Pollution Control Board norms.
“It is absolutely wrong for such an incinerator to have come up in such a location,” said Hem Pandey, co-chair of the BESZ Monitoring Committee and a former official in the Union Environment Ministry. “We are a monitoring committee and have consistently opposed this project,” he told The Hindu.
Uttarkashi-based social activist American Puri said that the plant had been installed around one and a half years ago, but has been in operation for the last two months. “This is in the Gangotri National Park and is near a glacier. I find it hard to believe that such a plant, in such a location, was allowed in the first place,” he said.
The Hindu has seen videos of the plant in action and the piles of solid waste accumulated for processing.
Accumulating solid waste
The incinerator was set up under the PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) scheme of the Union Ministry of Tourism. The project reportedly cost ₹306 lakh, and the plant can process a tonne of waste every day. A method to manage solid waste was necessary, as eight lakh pilgrims visit Gangotri Dham each year during the Char Dham Yatra, and their arrival brings 400 to 500 kilograms of organic waste into the forest, a project document noted.
However, installing infrastructure projects in an eco-sensitive zone is usually challenging and requires a spate of permissions from State pollution control boards, the State forest department, and environment impact assessment bodies. However, those whom The Hindu reached out to said that they were unaware of the existence of such a plant.
Amit Pokhriyal, an official at the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, told The Hindu that he was not aware that such a plant was functioning. “We had posed some queries to the project proponents and were still studying them. We didn’t give any approval,” he said.
Divided committee
It also appears that there are divisions within the BESZ monitoring committee itself, with some members dead against the plant and others approving it.
Uttarkashi District Magistrate Meherban Bisht, who is also the member secretary of the committee, shared a document with The Hindu that claims that the then-Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand Radha Raturi had approved the plant last year
“Under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, on 21-06-2024, the state-level High-Level Sensitisation Monitoring Committee in its meeting decided to transfer the Solid Waste Management Unit to Nagar Panchayat, Gangotri, and granted approval for the operation of the said unit,” Mr. Bisht told The Hindu. He did not respond to queries on how an incinerator could be installed in an eco-sensitive zone.
The Hindu could not immediately reach out to Ms. Raturi for comment. The BSEZ monitoring committee is chaired by the State’s current Chief Secretary.
‘Harms Gangotri ecology’
“This is a brazen violation of norms. The District Magistrate has gone ahead with the project despite objections from several members. The resulting ash from the system is harmful to the ecology of the Gangotri,” said Mallika Bhanot of GangaAahvan, an environmentalist and member of the monitoring committee. “In 2016 itself, we had suggested a de-centralised waste management system. And instead, this polluting unit, which violates all norms, has been set up. The proceedings of the meetings, which are tabulated by the member secretary [Mr. Bisht] are not accurate,” she added.
The fully energy-operated incinerator is a “zero-emission system” which operates between 850°C to 1,500°C temperature using the Programmed Oxygenation Plasma State technique, capable of “destroying any type of waste without using any fuel/electricity,” according to Mr. Bisht’s comminique. No water-based activity is involved in the process of burning waste, and the hazardous gases emitted from the unit are treated and neutralised, he said, adding that the waste water is treated and reused in the unit’s operations.
“After establishment of the unit, Nagar Panchayat Gangotri is now scientifically treating this waste daily, which significantly helps in the conservation of biodiversity in this ecologically sensitive region,” his note underlined.
Published – June 11, 2025 10:58 pm IST
