NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Saturday convened a meeting with all civic and land agencies of Delhi to make a breakthrough regarding landfill sites in the national capital. The NGT had earlier pulled up the agencies for not reaching a middle ground and resolving issues amongst themselves for larger public interest.
According to officials present in the meeting, a 95-acre site in Sultanpur Dabas in Outer Delhi would be used to develop an Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF), under would include a garbage dump, a waste-to-energy plant and plants for solid and liquid waste.
“The process regarding transfer of land site in Sultanpur to MCD has been initiated by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). As per our earlier demand, a site in Soni Vihar is pending with DDA, which was discussed in the meeting. We have also demanded that an unused NTPC thermal power plant be used for setting up an engineered landfill site,” said Puja Kalra, a lawyer representing the municipal corporation.
In December last year, the NGT was “compelled” to pass an order barring all land owning agencies—including DDA, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and the three corporations—from “placing or award work for building up of any commercial building” till sites for disposal of solid waste is finalised and earmarked.
Last year, two people were killed after tonnes of garbage at the Ghazipur landfill site came crashing down.
There are three Waste to Energy plants in the national capital in Okhla, Ghazipur and Narela-Bawana. Delhi generates 14,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily, with waste-to-energy plants compressing only 7,000 metric tonnes per day.
Agencies have not reached any consensus on deciding on a new landfill site.