Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday said the garbage mountains at the city's landfill sites were steadily shrinking as she reviewed waste disposal work at Okhla and laid the foundation stone for new waste processing facilities at Okhla, Ghazipur and Singhola. Gupta said the Delhi government had reclaimed 100 acres of land across the city's three landfill sites over the past one-and-a-half years, with a large portion of the cleared area also being turned green. She said almost all legacy waste at Okhla that existed before January 2025 had been processed. "Today, at Okhla, we have processed almost all the legacy waste that was there before January 2025," Gupta said.
Gupta said the government was working on two fronts: clearing the existing garbage mountains while ensuring that fresh waste generated every day did not accumulate into new landfill sites. According to news agency ANI, she said around 3,000-4,000 metric tonnes of fresh waste reaches the sites daily and is being processed round the clock. "The garbage currently piled up here is essentially fresh waste generated after January 2025, and that too is being processed round the clock. So, we are fighting on two fronts: one is eliminating waste, and the other is ensuring that the 3,000 to 4,000 metric tons of fresh waste arriving daily is processed immediately, so that new garbage mountains are not formed for future generations," Gupta said. She said the government was working to reduce the existing garbage mountains to zero. "People are seeing that the garbage mountains are continuously shrinking and soon a time will come when they will become zero," Gupta said. Gupta also said she had taken what she described as her "last selfie" with the garbage mountain at Okhla. "Today I have taken my last selfie with the garbage mountain; after this I have taken a pledge that this garbage mountain will end soon," she said. Taking a jibe at the Opposition, Gupta added, "I had said - garbage mountain, you will have to go; the opposition mocked. Today I will say the garbage mountain is going; now only its back remains."
During the programme at the Okhla SLF site, Gupta laid the foundation stone for fresh waste processing plants at Okhla, Ghazipur and Singhola, as well as a biogas facility at Ghazipur. She also inaugurated the M&CW Centre at Kotla Mubarakpur through virtual mode from Okhla. The Okhla plant will be built at a cost of Rs 103 crore and will have a processing capacity of 1,400 metric tonnes per day. The Singhola facility will cost Rs 42 crore and have a capacity of 800 metric tonnes per day, while the Ghazipur plant will have a processing capacity of 700 metric tonnes per day. The facilities are intended to process fresh waste as well as construction and demolition waste. Gupta said the new units would also produce biogas, green energy and manure. "Waste should not remain waste; Delhi should use it as wealth," she said, adding that new technologies were being introduced for waste segregation and processing. She said waste and cattle dung would be used to produce biogas and manure as part of efforts to build a technology-driven waste management system.
Gupta said the government was taking up several measures to address pollution, including work on landfill waste, cleaning the Yamuna, dust mitigation, plantation, road infrastructure and waste management. "Our government is tackling pollution from a 360-degree perspective to ensure it gradually decreases. We are working on every aspect, be it addressing the mountains of garbage, cleaning the Yamuna, improving road infrastructure, or managing waste, to ensure the people of Delhi enjoy better air quality. Our resolve and policies are absolutely clear, and we are working 24x7 in the public interest," she said. The chief minister also reviewed the progress of waste disposal work with officials and directed them to accelerate the work according to the stipulated timeline. She said the garbage mountains at Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla had caused inconvenience to people travelling through these areas and said the government was continuing efforts to eliminate them.
