About 22.46 hectares of land in North Delhi’s Phase V Industrial Area of Rohini will soon be put to use as Sanitary landfill (SlF) site. The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has finally changed the land use of the area from Industrial to Utility, for developing solid waste management facilities.
According to a notification issued by the MoUD, the total land earmarked for the landfill site has been divided into three portions. One measuring 2.42 hectares will be used for solid waste management facility and research, development and recycling of waste. It will have a slaughter house on its southern side and a 40-metre wide green belt on its western side.
The second portion, spread over 13.45 hectares, will be used for engineered sanitary landfill compost plant. The MoUD proposes to set up a 30-metre wide road on its southern side and a bus depot on its western side.
The third site, measuring 6.59 hectares will be developed as a waste-to-energy plant.
Of the 20 Sanitary landfill sites developed since 1975, as many as 15 have been closed and work has been suspended at two. At present, Delhi has four landfill sites, Bhalswa and Narela-Bawana in North Delhi; Ghazipur in the East and Okhla in the South.
Delhi generates over 9,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily. It is dumped in these four landfill sites that extend over 164 acres, when the current requirement is nearly four times the available area — 650 acres, according to a 2011 report by the Central Pollution Control Board.
Of the four landfill sites, three operate beyond capacity. While the permissible upper limit for dumping garbage at a landfill is approximately 15 to 20 metres, the sites at Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa are past 40 metres.
The Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi, the oldest functional landfill in the city, was started in 1984. Spread across 70 acres, the landfill contains at least 12 million tonnes of waste. The landfill is now estimated to be at least 50 feet tall. It overshot its limit of 15 feet in 2002, but in the absence of an alternative site, the landfill continues to function.
The 40 acre-wide trash mountain at Bhalswa, clearly visible from the arterial GT Karnal Road, receives about 2,700 tonnes of garbage per day. It caters to no less than 50 per cent of Delhi’s population, including Civil lines, Jahangirpuri, Model Town, Kirti Nagar and even old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk.
The Supreme Court had observed in February 2000 that it is the duty of all concerned to see that landfill sites are provided in the interest of public health, and expressed concern that its directions of 1996 on construction of four additional compost plants were not followed. The Apex Court had directed the DDA, Centre and other agencies to identify sites for landfills within a period of four weeks and hand over to local bodies.
In pursuant to High Court directions in April 2014, a committee set up for identifying the land for SlFs approved eight sites under North DMC measuring a total of 785.5 acres and 14 sites under SDMC measuring 2,138 acres which were yet to be handed over by the DDA.
The mammoth ticking garbage bombs of Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa landfills are reportedly spewing toxic gases by the minute into Delhi’s already foul air because the national Capital does not have an efficient waste management system.
An IIT-Kanpur report on Delhi’s air quality showed 7 per cent to 9 per cent of the Capital’s particulate matter pollution is because of burning municipal solid waste. Burning waste also leads to an increased presence of chlorides in the air, which weakens the immune system, irritates lungs and causes respiratory disorders.