7.5 acre land in Narela for dumping silt

NEWDELHI: To reduce the amount of garbage being dumped at landfills and speed up the process of collecting silt from the city drains, the civic agencies have zeroed in on a 7.5-acre site at Narela for disposing silt only.

Every year, eight lakh tonnes of silt is collected from major drains, maintained by the PWD as well as Irrigation and Flood Control Department of the Delhi government. The amount also included silt from drains managed by MCDS and located on roads narrower than 60 feet.

“The entire silt ends up at the landfills which have already exhausted capacity. Despite the fact that silt is left to dry near the drains for few days before being transported to earmarked sites, during monsoon it becomes slippery and often leads to cave in of garbage,” said a North Corporation official.

To overcome these issues, the Delhi Development Authority has allocated the land near Narela village for the purpose and EDMC is given the responsibility for its management.

“On our repeated demand, DDA had allocated us a site near Geeta Colony sometime ago but due to strong resistance from public and the matter being challenged in the high court later, the civic agency had to look for another site for the purpose,” said a senior EDMC official.

Once become functional, this will be the first site meant for the purpose of dumping silt. Besides North and East corporations, PWD, DDA and other agencies will be allowed to dump silt there.

“While the Central Building Research Institute is carrying research on the demand of Delhi Pollution Control Board for reusing the silt in city, we have decided to initially segregate the garbage and process it while the leftover (mostly inert) will be collected here,” said the official.

However, experts said that the civic agencies should plan the project properly rather than just looking for another piece of land to dispose of waste.

“It is important to look for initiatives that would help in long term management. Locating another site is not a concrete solution. Silt can be used for making construction material and for other purposes. We need to do a proper study to ascertain the quality of silt from different places and arrange its treatment,” said Prof AK Gosain of the Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.