‘EDMC lacks plan to tackle fires at Ghazipur landfill’
NEW DELHI: The environment committee of the Delhi assembly, headed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi, on Tuesday asked the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) commissioner the reason for the recent fire at the Ghazipur landfill site and the measures taken by the corporation to prevent such incidents in the future.
The EDMC commissioner was summoned by the committee last week, with Atishi stating after the meeting that the corporation did not have a concrete plan in place to deal with such incidents. She also said while 900,000 tonnes of legacy waste had been removed over the last 1.5 years, the same quantum of fresh waste had been added to the landfill site, rendering the bio-remediation exercise futile.
“East Delhi Municipal Corporation admitted that they don’t have money, land or an adequate plan to solve the garbage problem of East Delhi! So what has BJP been doing for the last 15 years? Now that MCD will be controlled by the central government, will the PM solve this problem? (sic)” tweeted Atishi, after the hearing on Tuesday.
The environment committee has summoned the East corporation commissioner again next week and asked for an action plan by Tuesday on preventing future fires and flattening the Ghazipur Landfill.
Taking note of the slow progress to remediate the landfill site which was commissioned in 1984, Atishi, during the hearing, said it was shocking that despite this problem persisting for several years, there was no plan to deal with it. According to the environment committee, the EDMC is likely to take at least 10 years to flatten the landfill site.
The Ghazipur landfill site has 14 million tonnes of legacy waste. The committee said while only 900,000 tonnes of waste had been removed in the last 1.5 years, the EDMC said it did not have adequate funds or a plan in place to remove more garbage.
“The EDMC has blamed agencies like Delhi Development Agency (DDA) for not providing land where the additional waste could be dumped,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
In its defence, EDMC, at the hearing, said that the waste-toenergy plant located in Ghazipur has not been functioning since its private partner went bankrupt, with the plant only expected to be operational from May 2022 onwards.
“Warning the EDMC team, the environment committee has asked them to present a concrete plan to clear this selfcombustible landfill site by next Tuesday. The chairperson of the committee sought the details of all the correspondence between EDMC, DDA and other land-owning agencies with respect to the Ghazipur landfill. She also asked for the details of their waste to energy plants and recycling plants,” the official added.
EDMC officials did not respond to requests seeking a comment.
The Delhi government had last week slapped a fine of ₹50 lakh on the east corporation for negligence leading to the fire.