Residents of Rani Khera are opposed to authorities dumping garbage there
With land at Rani Khera deemed the “temporary” site for dumping waste, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has a logistical nightmare on its hands. For the cash-strapped civic body, this “temporary” arrangement would lead to a “complete reconfiguration of their systems” — from hiring more trucks to planning traffic movement — which is likely to lead to an estimated expenditure in crores.
To add to the EDMC’s woes, the site at Rani Khera — along the Delhi-Haryana border — witnessed protests on Sunday, with both the local BJP councillor and AAP MLA opposing the move. “It is not surprising. No one wants a landfill in their residential area. It is natural to be worried about diseases and the stench. The corporations have been raising the issue for over a decade and no one cared,” an EDMC official said.
As authorities try to convince the residents, they are confronted with the problem of rerouting 2,500 tonnes of garbage to the opposite end of the city.
Currently, the Ghazipur landfill receives waste from residential areas, dhalaos and open sites from over 100 trucks and 30 loads, in three shifts a day. “If the trucks have to travel 46 km away, we will have to hire more vehicles. Currently, the trucks do three shifts. Now, as the new site is far, the frequency of the trucks has to be increased to accommodate this,” said a senior official of the Department of Environment Management Services (DEMS).
Costs, too, will go up, with an official estimating that “it will amount to several crores”.
Earlier, in June, citing lack of revenue, EDMC mayor Neema Bhagat had tried to petition the Delhi government for funds to the tune of Rs 9,845 crore — pending since 2012-13. This was shot down by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who alleged that the EDMC was “plagued by corruption”.
Officials added that the entire process of re-routing garbage to the new site would lead to massive traffic snarls. “Right now, the trucks used in garbage collection work in east Delhi and travel to Ghazipur. The trucks have a synchronised route, which they take during non-peak traffic hours. This will not be the case in the temporary situation, as many trucks will be plying on the route several times,” an official said.
While EDMC officials said the “route has to be charted out with the traffic police department”, they expect traffic snarls in parts of east and north Delhi, such as Shalimar Bagh and Mayur Vihar.
