NEW DELHI: At the end of monsoon, three main civic bodies are putting their best foot forward to speed up the flattening of the three landfills — Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla — in the city.
“We are increasing the machines for waste management from 24 to 60. Thus, the gap will be filled up. The progress over flattening will take place from October 15 onwards,” said a senior official from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
South Delhi civic body officials explained that during monsoon, in particular, the rainwater would gush with already dumped waste and reach the bottom of the landfill.
“Therefore, when these are pulled out by excavators they don’t come out in scattered forms unlike when the waste is dry,” said an official.
“It takes the shape of a block and then the segregation becomes difficult. When it rains, its impact remains for seven to 10 days. So even if it rains for 15 days, the process almost comes to a halt,” he explained.
“We had a very poor outcome in August, and in September almost no work could be done. The cover-up period begins from next month. From October to March next year we’re expected to see good progress unless affected by any further Covid situation,” added the official.
The south MCD, which is also setting up an engineered landfill at a 32-acre-plot at Tehkhand in Okhla, expects that the work of flattening the Okhla landfill will fasten once the new proposed area is ready.
“Space constraint is a huge challenge at Okhla. The amount we are processing each day is almost the same as arriving at the landfill. Presently, over 3,600 tonnes of waste is generated every day. The other landfill which is being prepared at Tehkhand and supposed to begin this year got delayed due to Covid,” the official noted.
East Delhi Corporation officials said that there were several machines that were continuously working.
“However there are certain limitations over segregation and disposal of waste. We will take some more measures,” said the official.