Delhi: Center meets MCDs to solve landfill problem

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Monday urged MCDs to step up their efforts to segregate waste at source and attract private sector participation. It was also decided that the MCDs and DDAs would jointly discuss and resolve all land-related issues.

A high-level meeting was convened by the ministry to discuss progress made in the cleanup of three old dumps in Delhi – Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa.

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The meeting, chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry, also included officials from the Ministry of Environment, the Secretary of Urban Development, the Deputy Chairman of the DDA, the Commissioners of the MCD, representatives of the Central Pollution Control Board, the National Thermal Power Corporation and the National Highways Authority of India.

The three MCDs said they collectively generate 11,000 tonnes of solid waste per day, of which around 5,900 tonnes are scientifically treated at three waste-to-energy plants at the Narela, Bawana, Okhla and Ghazipur sites.

Across the three dump sites, around 42 lakh metric tons have been remediated so far, but the rest of the fresh untreated waste that continues to be dumped at these sites offsets any remediation carried out so far.

“DDA was also asked to explore the possibilities of using inert fractions less than 6mm as a soil enricher in their horticulture and biodiversity parks, where possible. With regard to funding issues relating to remediation, it was decided that the Delhi government would explore the possibilities of considering the green funds for the transportation of excavated legacy waste as remediation of landfills would help in reducing air pollution in Delhi,” the ministry said. in a report.

MCDs were asked to undertake a detailed analysis to optimize process costs for landfill remediation, with comprehensive projections and robust project tracking metrics.

It also comes at a time when another fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill on Saturday night – the second in nearly two weeks. On March 28, a massive fire broke out at the site which was only extinguished after 48 hours. Saturday’s fire raged for more than three hours.