Increase capacity of WTE plant in Okhla to rid city of garbage menace, says L-G

New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena inspected the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at Okhla and directed officials to increase its capacity to rid the city of the garbage menace, an official statement said on Friday. The Okhla WTE plant currently produces 23 MW electricity by consuming 1,950 metric ton solid waste.

"The L-G directed officials to take necessary steps to increase the garbage consumption at the plant by another 1,000 metric ton which would also result in an additional 17 MW power production. "This will take care of processing the entire 3,000 metric ton of garbage being generated daily in the erstwhile south MCD area," the statement said.

Saxena visited the facility on Thursday evening and was accompanied by special officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, MCD Commissioner and other senior officials. During the visit, the L-G also witnessed the entire process of generating electricity from garbage.

The L-G was informed by officials that increasing power production would require installation of an additional boiler, work for which had been pending as the mandatory public hearing has not taken place till now even though all the other formalities had been complied with, the statement said.

"To this, the L-G directed officials to expedite the process of conducting public

hearing and remove any hurdle in increasing the garbage

consumption capacity of the plant," the statement said.

Saxena emphasized that increasing the consumption of garbage from Okhla landfill site would not only benefit a large population living in the south Delhi areas but also ensure that fresh garbage is not added to the existing mound in Okhla. The L-G also directed officials to expedite work on the completion of the WTE Plant being constructed at Tehkhand in south Delhi by August this year.

The Tehkhand plant aims to generate another 25 MW electricity by using nearly 2,000 MT of RDF waste in addition to 500 MT of C&D waste, the statement said. On Sunday, the

L-G had inspected Ghazipur landfill and had asked officials to submit a status report on their plan to raze these dumping sites.