No fresh garbage will be dumped in Ghazipur and Bhalaswa landfill sites, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today after meeting Lt Governor Anil Baijal.
Earlier in the day, the Lt Governor’s office said garbage dumping in east Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site has been banned with immediate effect and it is likely to be cleared within two years.
It, however, said that banning garbage dumping at Bhalaswa in North Delhi is under consideration but a decision in this regard is yet to be taken.
Yesterday, a day after torrential rains — the heaviest in three years — lashed Delhi, a portion of the waste dump in Ghazipur, estimated to be as high as a 15-storey building, slumped over a car and three two-wheelers, pushing the vehicles off the road and into a canal. Two persons were killed in the incident.
After the ban on Ghazipur landfill site, garbage generated in East Delhi will now be dumped at Ranikhera on Delhi-Haryana border, an East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) official said.
After meeting the Lt Governor, Kejriwal said, “No fresh garbage will be dumped at Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfill sites.
It will now be dumped at new sites identified in east and north Delhi.”
Claiming that garbage disposal in Delhi was being done in an “ancient” manner, Kejriwal said compactors will be procured and waste to energy plants will be set up for scientific solid waste management.
“It may take a few months. Till then fresh garbage will be disposed of at the newly identified sites in east and north Delhi,” he said.
The chief minister said that he has suggested the Lt Governor to hire experts who can give ideas about ways to clear the mountains of garbage and Ghazipur and Bhalaswa landfills.
Earlier, in a meeting with the Lt Governor, National Highways Authority (NHAI) officials said the mountain of garbage at Ghazipur site will be cleared within two years.
“NHAI assured the L-G that it will begin the process of lifting, segregating and processing of the solid waste by November 2017, for its use in road construction,” said a statement from Lt Governor’s office.
The process has been fast tracked and the entire landfill site would be cleared within two years, it said.
Baijal also directed that traffic be diverted on the road adjoining the landfill for proper vehicular movement.
Expressing his condolences to the families of the two people who lost their lives, the Lt Governor asked all agencies to be fully prepared to deal with such exigencies and to coordinate so that such unfortunate incidents do not recur.
The meeting was attended by Ranbir Singh, commissioner EDMC, R P Singh, general manager NHAI, Rajeev Verma, principal commissioner (lands) DDA, and experts in landfill site management.
Around 2,500 MT of garbage lifted from East Delhi is dumped each day in the Ghazipur landfill, the oldest of its kind in the national capital.
According to officials, the permissible height for a garbage dump is 20 metres. However, the Ghazipur dump was 60 metres high.
