Garbage mountains will vanish from city by 2028, says Sirsa at Okhla landfill

New Delhi: In a bold declaration of intent, Delhi’s Environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced that the capital’s notorious landfill “garbage mountains” will be eliminated by 2028. The statement came during his inspection of the ongoing bio-mining

and bio-remediation work at the Okhla landfill, one of Delhi’s most pressing environmental hazards.

“Just like how dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth, these garbage mountains will disappear from Delhi too. This is not magic, it is the result of relentless efforts under the visionary leadership of our PM Narendra Modi and the dedicated commitment of our Hon’ble CM Rekha Gupta,” said Sirsa, underlining the government’s mission to transform Delhi’s waste landscape.

The landfill site, spread over 62 acres, has already seen more than 30 acres reclaimed and the height of the waste mound reduced dramatically, from 60 metres to 20 metres. According to the minister, “History is in the making. Removal of these garbage mountains will bring a new lease of life to residents living near these landfill sites. A cleaner Delhi is becoming a reality.”

As part of the government’s timeline, 30 Lakh Metric Tonnes (MT) of legacy waste will be removed from the Okhla site by December 2025, with internal estimates now aiming for an even earlier target of October 2025. So far, 56 Lakh MT of waste has been scientifically processed, with 6.5 Lakh MT handled in just the past few months under Phase 2.

Taking a sharp dig at the previous administration, Sirsa remarked, “They should be renamed as ‘Aage Aaye Pollution (AAP) Party’ for how singlehandedly they contributed to worsening Delhi’s air and waste crisis. We are doing what the previous government of ‘AAPda’ (Disaster) couldn’t do in ten years. While they let pollution grow unchecked, we are working to eliminate it.”