Shortage of landfill sites and systematic failure in managing solid waste have resulted in piles of garbage lying all around in the national Capital. Thousands of tonnes of garbage is not only a health hazard but also poses a serious question on the intention of the authorities responsible for finding lasting solution to the impending garbage crisis. It continues unabated.
The three municipal corporations appear to be losing out miserably in the overall ratings for the cleanest cities of India under the Swachchh Bharat Mission-2018 as no serious measures were taken to combat solid waste issue by the civic agencies.
Kamlajit Sehrawat, Mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation said with the proposed waste to energy plant at Tehkhand where 1,200 metric tonne of waste would be utilised to generate 15 mega watt powers, the SDMC would be garbage free.
"SDMC generates approximately 4,000 MT tonne waste per day, out of which 2,000 MT of waste is already being processed at Okhla energy plant. The remaining waste would be processed at Tehkhand energy plant," Shehrawat added.
Delhi produces over 9,500 tonnes per day (TPD) of solid waste, but all three of its dumping grounds, with a collective capacity of 4,600 MTD are operating beyond their saturation point and also posing "risk to human lives'. In addition, it is expected that the national Capital will need an additional area of 28 square km till 2020 to dump 15,000 tonnes of garbage daily.
Besides, all the three landfill sites at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur in the Capital, has reached a saturation point (50 meter while 20 meter allowed) almost 10 years ago but still ignoring hazards, authorities kept a blind eye, resulting in recent tragedy at Ghaziput landfill site.
Meanwhile, talking to The Pioneer, the East Delhi Mayor Neema Bhagat said that the Corporation has already joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) to find a solution in disposing the garbage. "Besides, we have also written to the Delhi Development Authority for alternative land to develop a new landfill sites," she said.
Bhagat further said, "We are also in process of raising the capacity of the Ghazipur Waste-to-Energy plant by 650-700 metric tonne per day from the existing 1,300 MT.
The city has three waste-to-energy plants at Okhla, Ghazipur and Narela Bawana to process waste into energy. Together they have the capacity to process around 4,000 MTD. North Delhi Municipal Corporation is collecting 3,900 MT 'Municipal Solid Waste' per day of which Narela-Bawana waste to energy plant is utilising 2000 MT for generating 24 MW of electricity. The crisis is still remaining unsolved due to any alternative site to dump the waste.
A north MCD official said the garbage could properly be managed only by creating a new landfill sites. "The main problem is that the city is being run by the multiple authorities, resulting in delaying in getting land for new landfill sites.
"All the three MCDs are running several awareness programme to make the city clean. However, it will be difficult to come out with a solution without developing proper infrastructure to manage the waste and it needs a strong political will to work out the problem," a senior corporation official said.
"The garbage crisis seems to be a never ending story as the ruling BJP which is ruling municipal Corporations for the three consecutive terms have done nothing to alleviate the garbage menace," the official said. In Swachh Survekshan-2017, some 434 cities were surveyed. North, East and South MCDs ranked 279, 202 and 196 respectvely. During the 'Swachchh Survekshan-2016', the three corporations also scored poorly as south, north MCDs and east Corporations were ranked 39, 43 and 52nd out of 73 cities surveyed for cleanliness in India.