It will take at least 10 years at peak performance to clear Ghazipur landfill, says EDMC Commissioner

new delhi: The Delhi Vidhan Sabha's Committee on Environment held a deposition of the EDMC Commissioner and sought explanations on steps taken to clear the Ghazipur landfill site and prevent fires as well as data on garbage management to which the Commissioner stated that the corporation does not have money, land or an adequate plan to solve the garbage problem.

The session which was chaired by AAP's MLA Atishi saw the Commissioner stated that it will take at least 10 years at peak performance to clear the landfill and around 140 lakh tonnes of legacy waste was the cause of the fire and the unavailability of funds was another reason that it has not been cleared. The commissioner also said that only 9 lakh tonnes of legacy waste were treated in 1.5 years, and the same quantity of fresh waste was added during the same period at the site.

The AAP MLA questioned now that MCD is being controlled by the central government, will the PM solve this problem and if the Corporation does not have end action then how will the growth of the garbage mountain ever end. The Environment Committee has summoned the East MCD Commissioner again and has asked him for an action plan on Ghazipur landfill by Tuesday.

The committee also asked the EDMC to explain the causes of fire at Ghazipur landfill site and what steps it has taken to clear the site to which the EDMC responded that it does not have any plan or funds in place to resolve the problem and blamed agencies like DDA for not providing land where extra garbage could be dumped. Atishi has sought the details of all the correspondence between EDMC, DDA and land-owning agencies with respect to the Ghazipur landfill and has also asked the Commissioner for details of the waste to energy plants and recycling plants. The Commissioner pointed out that the Waste to Energy Plant located in Ghazipur hasn't been functioning since the bankruptcy of the private partner and that the plant has been undergoing renovations and is only expected to be operational from May, 2022.

The Delhi Government had issued a fine of Rs 50 lac on MCD due to its negligence in maintaining rules and regulations at the landfill, where a fire broke out on March 28. The government had directed officials to take strict action against employees and officers who were on-duty at the time of the fire. The DPCC had submitted a report after examining the incident, which stated that the MCD had bypassed all environment protection norms at the site and only 21 trommel machines out of 25 were found working at the landfill, while the anti-smog guns were not working.