Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday visited all three landfill sites at Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa and took stock of the progress of the ongoing waste remediation and disposal works.
The Lt Governor expressed satisfaction over the pace that bio-remediation and disposal of Solid Waste from the three dumping sites had picked up since his first visit, immediately after he took over on May 29, 2022. In an official statement, the LG secretariat said, “While average remediation/disposal stood at 1.41 lakh MT/month in May 2022, it rose up to 6 lakh MT/month by October 2022, and ever since the new concessionaires had been engaged in November 2022, the pace had further picked up. As of now, the numbers being achieved will ensure remediation at 30,000 MT/day and 9 lakh MT/month, very soon.”
LG Saxena was accompanied by the Chief Secretary of Delhi, the Commissioner of MCD and senior officials of MCD during the inspection, the statement read.
The LG also visited Bhalswa Lake during his inspection tour.
The National Green Tribunal vide order dated February 16, 2023, in the matter of “Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and other Environmental Issues” has constituted a Solid Waste Monitoring Committee (SWMC) headed by Lt Governor, Delhi, on the lines of the similar HLC for the rejuvenation of Yamuna, it read.
Working in this direction, a series of meetings were held and an Action Plan for Solid Waste Management in Delhi has been prepared and an order dated April 6, 2023, has also been issued by Chief Secretary, Delhi.
Moreover, officials of MCD apprised LG Saxena about the efforts put in by MCD in processing legacy waste at three dumpsites.
“When VK Saxena took over as LG, the total legacy waste at the three dumpsites was 229.1 Lakh MT in June 2022, which now stands at 154.9 MT, down by 74.2 Lakh MT (32.38%) within a year. MCD has set the target for May 2024 for bio-remediation of all the legacy waste lying at the three landfill sites,” the release stated.
The Lt Governor has been monitoring the work of bio-remediation at the three landfill sites. At the Bhalswa landfill site, bio-remediation of legacy waste in the quarter between February 2023 to May 2023 was 111 per cent against the set target while that at Okhla and Bhalswa stood at 88 per cent and 34 per cent respectively during the said period, it read.
It further stated that Delhi Governor issued instructions for the targets to be met expeditiously and was informed that the same will be achieved for Okhla by the end of June 2023 and for Ghazipur within the next three months.
“At present, 80 Trommeling Machines with enhanced capacity are segregating waste at the three landfill sites in Delhi, up from 12 in June 2022 and five additional machines were expected to be added by June 30, 2023,” it stated.
“At the Okhla site, a first-of-its-kind Trommeling Machine that converts 1500 MT per day of C&D Waste into inert, has also been installed. For the purpose of real-time monitoring of the bio-remediation of waste and its disposal, Control and Command Centres have been set up at the landfill sites and transportation trucks have been fitted with GPS mechanisms,” the statement read.
The Lt. Governor ordered daily monitoring of the bio-remediation process at all three landfill sites.