It is a man-made disaster: Kejriwal

Delhi government on Friday termed the Ghazipur landfill collapse a ‘man-made disaster’, questioning the BJP-ruled municipal corporation’s failure to use the modern technology to manage solid waste.

Speaking to reporters after taking stock of the situation at the accident site, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also flayed the civic bodies for dumping waste at the site despite the Delhi Pollution control Committee (DPCC) notice over exhaustion of the permissible limit of the landfill.

“The methodology of waste disposal at this mountain of garbage is wrong. I have been told that several notices have been served by the DPCC to the MCDs to check dumping of garbage. The landfill has already crossed permissible limits,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal said he would also speak to L-G Anil Baijal and pressure the municipal corporations to do away with such garbage dumps and introduce a modern solid waste management system.

East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat said the corporation was aware of the DPCC notices and is waiting for land allotment from the DDA for new landfill sites.

“We have been demanding land for long. The DDA has allotted 150 acres land in Ghonda Gurjan in north east Delhi, which falls under ‘O’ zone. Hence the allotment has to be cleared by the NGT. We have a meeting planned on September 4 in which the corporation will make a presentation before the tribunal to seek NOC in this regard,” she said.

Senior BJP leaders were restrained in their reaction to the loss of life.

Leader of the opposition Vijender Gupta urged the east Delhi mayor to expeditiously grant adequate compensation to the affected families, besides seeking job for dependant of the deceased.

The Congress blamed both the AAP government and the BJP for fighting with each other while ‘governance has take a back seat.’ 1