Days after a portion of the Ghazipur landfill collapsed killing two, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday ordered the municipal corporations to increase their waste processing, by using the existing capacity as well as expanding the capacity of the waste-to-energy (WTE) plants.
Garbage collection
At a meeting with all departments and agencies concerned on Tuesday, as per a Raj Niwas statement, Mr. Baijal was informed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) commissioner that the civic body was collecting 4,650 metric tonnes of garbage every day of which 2,600 MT was municipal solid waste, 1,400 MT was silt and 650 MT was construction and demolition waste.
With its 1,300-MT capacity waste-to-energy plant at Ghazipur and 500-MT construction and demolition waste plant at Shastri Park, the EDMC has been processing a large part of its garbage.
Mr. Baijal asked the EDMC to expand the capacity of the existing WTE plant. In the first phase, an additional 650 MT of municipal solid waste would be sent to the plant soon.
For the remaining 650 MT, Mr. Baijal directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to process its Okhla-Timarpur WTE plant.
Also at the meeting, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner told Mr. Baijal that the civic body collects 3,900 MT of municipal solid waste a day. Of that the Narela-Bawana WTE plant uses 2,000 MT. Mr. Baijal ordered the expansion of the plant’s capacity so that the remaining 1,900 MT is also used.
To ensure no pile up
Currently, the remaining waste is sent to the Bhalswa landfill, which is also being used past its intended lifespan.
“These two steps would ensure that there would not be any further increase in the mounds of garbage at Bhalswa and Ghazipur,” said the Raj Niwas statement.
Sets deadline
Mr. Baijal also set the deadline of two years from November 2017 for clearing the garbage accumulated at Ghazipur that can be used in road construction by the National Highways Authority of India.
In order to come up with a solution for Bhalswa, Mr. Baijal has set up a meeting on Thursday with IIT-Delhi and industry experts.
Mr. Baijal also told the municipality officials to use compactors for making transportation of garbage easier.
On September 1, a part of the garbage piled up at the Ghazipur landfill fell that killed two persons.
Mr. Baijal had on September 2 ordered the EDMC to stop dumping garbage at Ghazipur.