Articles by Nuzhat Khan

Every afternoon in Delhi’s Yamuna Khadar, a daily ritual unfolds as the residents, mainly migrant workers from Bihar working as waste collectors, anxiously wait for the arrival of the Delhi Jal Board's (DJB) water tanker. The tanker stops at the far end of a kutcha road lined with shanties and heaps of garbage.  Usually, children aged 5 to 6 enthusiastically run to announce the arrival of the tanker. Soon after, women arrive, balancing large containers in their arms and around their waists, while men on bicycles hastily make their way to the main road. For the people here, this water…

27-year-old Salma was a  waste picker at the Ghazipur landfill before she came to Gulmeher, a social enterprise established in 2013 that aims to provide an alternative livelihood to women waste pickers in that area. They train these women to create eco-friendly products using discarded flowers, fabric waste and recycled paper. Till date, Gulmeher has already re-used around 15 tons of discarded flowers and more than two tons of fabric waste.  Salma, donning a red dupatta, smiles as she meticulously picks broken flower petals with a brush, pasting it on a diary before her. It has taken her long to…

In 2012, Delhi inaugurated its first waste-to-energy (WTE) plant, marking the commencement of electricity generation at the Jindal group-owned Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company. Despite several petitions being filed against it in courts, the plant, located in the midst of densely populated residential colonies in Okhla, continues to operate amidst much controversy. One of these colonies is South Delhi’s Haji Colony. In the latter’s backyard, the WTE plant is brazenly expanding at the expense of the well being of thousands of people, who have been living in that area for years.  Robbed of the comforts of home The plant is merely…

Have you been to the Surajpur wetland, near Surajpur village in Gautam Budh Nagar district? Located in the midst of an expansive industrial city under the administrative purview of the Greater Noida Development Authority, it reveals itself as a mosaic of a sprawling lake, towering trees and thousands of birds, many flying in from distant lands. As you enter the wetland, the guards tell you not to go beyond the second viewpoint. It is untamed territory, the domain of many wild animals, they warn.  However, all has not been well in this sanctuary of nature. In January 2024, the Uttar…

'Galli Number 4', Seelampur in New Delhi is well-known for being India's largest e-waste market. Birds fly over a sprawling stream of dirty, black water overflowing with a deluge of plastic, and metallic waste. Children sift through the refuse with their small hands delicately exploring the piles of garbage hoping to find something of worth that could fetch them a few rupees.  Narrow lanes and footpaths are riddled with discarded mobile phones, defunct computer supplements, broken guts of a circuit board, cuts of optical fibres, and various other dead and rejected electronics.  This suburb in Shahadara district of east Delhi,…