NEW DELHI: Dissatisfied with the progress in the garbage removal from the Ghazipur landfill site, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the site on Friday, said two more government agencies will be hired to speed up the clearance.
Kejriwal said 5.25 lakh tonnes (LT) of garbage have been cleared by now instead of 15 lakh tonnes and reasoned disputes within the already deployed three agencies behind the delay in the work. “At Ghazipur 80-80 lakh tonnes of garbage exist. Progress of removal of this garbage is significantly slow, as per the scheduled target. This is being done by three companies and they are not on the same page since the beginning. We are hiring two more agencies to speed up the process,” Kejriwal said.
However, the chief minister said for tendering any such project, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) needs the approval of its standing committee. Since the constitution of the standing committee is sub-judice, the agencies will only be hired after the awaited Supreme Court verdict, he said.
Kejriwal recently visited the Bhalswa and Okhla landfill sites too. “The pace of waste removal at the Bhalaswa landfill site is appreciating. The contract for lifting 30 LT of waste has been given, which can be extended up to 55 LT. However, there is approximately 65-70 LT of waste at the Bhalswa landfill site and additional agency will need to be hired,” the chief minister reasserted.
At the Okhla landfill site, 12 LT of waste have been lifted compared to 18 LT, so another agency is needed there too, Kejriwal said. Kejriwal shared a short clip on ‘X’ stating, “Today, I went to see the garbage removal work going on at the Ghazipur landfill site. The work here is progressing slowly, which is not satisfactory.” Flattening the mountains of garbage at the three landfill sites of the city—Bhalaswa, Okhla and Ghazipur—is one of the electoral promises of the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi when it returned to power in 2020.