MCD is hard at work but Delhi’s looming landfills unlikely to go by G20 summit
MCD aims to flatten Okhla and Bhalswa landfills by Dec 2023, and Ghazipur by March 2024. G20 has led to calls to finish Okhla work by Sept. Experts say even 5 years not enough. New Delhi: If you pinch your nose shut, Delhi’s three landfill sites — in Ghazipur, Okhla, and Bhalswa — almost look like undulating hills. Hopes are now high that these eyesores will soon meet their end. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) began work last year to flatten the landfills, and with the G20 Summit coming up, there are calls for it to get the job done by September for Okhla. Experts, however, believe that none of the proposed deadlines are realistic. he MCD deadlines for the three sites are December 2023 for the landfills in Okhla (46 acres) and Bhalswa (36 acres), and March 2024 for Ghazipur (70 acres). The landfills exceeded their capacity in 2010, 2003 and 2002 respectively. All three comprise lakhs of tons of “legacy waste”, or garbage that has been piled up for years, but they continue to be receptacles of new trash too. With the G20 around the corner, officials from the Lieutenant Governor’s secretariat have said that the authorities have been asked to complete the work at the Okhla landfill before the events commence. Delhi BJP working president Virender Sachdeva even claimed in December last year that the municipal corporation had declared that the Okhla landfill site would be cleared before the G20 summit. The Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0 has also issued a separate deadline for all legacy dumpsites to be remediated by 2026. However, experts at the non-profit research organisation Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) told ThePrint that none of these deadlines will be met until a complete ban on the fresh dumping of garbage is enacted and the current capacity of garbage being processed is increased. It will take over five years to reach the MCD’s goal, they said.
