Delhi’s growing mountain of garbage

The National Capital – Delhi is home to three huge mountains of trash- Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla landfill sites. The biggest and the oldest of them is Ghazipur. Commissioned in 1984, the site’s saturation limit was hit in 2002, but the site is in use even today. The landfill site, spread across 29 acres of land area, has grown enough to heights comparable to the Qutab Minar

The Capital City of India generates 10,000 metric tonnes of waste every day. This municipal waste generated is dumped in the landfill sites like Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla. These landfills were commissioned in the year 1984, 1994 and 1996 respectively. “The Ghazipur landfill was setup without any authorization for using it as a landfill, but it is authorised to be used as a waste dumping site”, said Arun Kumar, Senior Engineer EDMC.

68 meters tall mount of garbage – Ghazipur landfill
The most prominent of the three landfill sites is Ghazipur landfill because the oldest and the largest (in the sense of over-saturation) landfill in Delhi. This huge un-engineered landfill has grown by several meters over the last few years. It gets the municipal waste from east, central and old Delhi. At the time of its set up, its height was not meant to surpass 20 meters. But the landfill crossed the 20 meters mark in the year 2002 and is growing even today.
As per a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forest, the Ghazipur landfill site popularly known as the ‘mountain of garbage’ is now 68 meters tall, almost reaching the height of the Qutab Minar which is 73 meters tall.
On September 1, 2017, one corner of this tall mount of garbage collapsed which caused loss of two lives. Residents believe that the number of deaths reported is different from the actual numbers. Post the incident, the authorities banned the use of landfill site effectively from September 2, 2017. But the site is still in use and garbage is still being dumped.
In an interview with Urban Update, an East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) official stated that on an average, 700 trucks dump waste at the site on a daily basis. A statement from a truck driver revealed that there are no safety measures provided to them, thus exposing them to various diseases and putting their lives in danger.

Steps taken by the government
Delhi is continuously suffering from the effects of severe pollution and hazardous air quality. The government is constantly looking for solutions to curb it. EDMC officials told Urban Update “We signed an MoU with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in November 2016, for the construction of roads by using the municipal solid waste from Ghazipur landfill, but the process has not yet started and it is pending with the NHAI.”The officials added, “There is also a proposal pending in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to generate electricity by incinerating the garbage.”
When asked about the continuous dumping of garbage even after over-saturation of the landfill, the official said, “There is no alternative landfill where we can dump the municipal waste”.
It is to be mentioned that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) asked the corporation to consider Rani Khera land as an alternative site to dump the waste, but reports say that the officials are not using the land because of 2 hours of travel time to reach
Rani Khera.

“The waste should be segregated at source”- experts
Talking about solutions regarding the solid waste management, Satish Sinha who is an associate director of Toxics Link organisation said, “The generated waste should be segregated at initial stage and the municipalities, administration and other government officials must know that it is possible and it can be done. We can set other cities of India like Surat and Indore as examples of waste segregation. I question that if other cities can make it possible then why Delhi cannot.”
When asked about the harmful effects on water quality in nearby areas of landfill sites, Sinha said, “Each and every living being is threatened by various diseases like cancer, malaria, and many dangerous ones”.
Sinha believes that the human behaviour is not responsible for open dumping of waste, he said, “When you travel in metro, you see there are no wrappers and other waste material lying on the floor when you go to shopping malls, it’s the similar case. In such places, you see the sanitary workers regularly maintain cleanliness. If the waste is separately collected in dry and wet forms then why it gets mixed when it is being dumped at landfill sites. So somewhere, the government is responsible for the situation that Delhi is suffering,” Sinha added.

The generated waste should be segregated at initial stage and the municipalities, administration and other government officials must know that it is possible and it can be done. We can set other cities of India like Surat and Indore as examples of waste segregation. If other cities can make it possible then why Delhi cannot

Waste to Energy plants in Delhi
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduced new Solid Waste Management Rules,2016, in which the ministry proposed to solve the solid waste problems by incinerating the solid waste to generate energy in waste to energy plants. The plants use incinerator machines to produce electricity but the process releases harmful gases which negatively affects the air quality.
Delhi is currently having three waste to energy plants located at Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Narela Bawana. These together have a capacity to process 4000 metric tonnes of solid waste every day which is only 40 per cent of the total waste generated in the capital.

“We want it to be converted into a park”- demand residents
The landfill site is causing a lot of problems to the residents nearby. Some of the residents told us that many of them are suffering from various diseases due to the harmful gases that are released from the Ghazipur landfill and they are helpless. During monsoon season, the garbage gets wet and it creates bad odour all around. Harmful chemicals leach in the soil beneath and impact the ground water quality. Residents said “the groundwater is very bad here and it appears almost black in colour”.
“In summers, the garbage dump catches fire due to the chemical reactions inside which leads to smoky clouds engulfing the nearby area. Many of us are suffering from lung infection but the administration is not taking any step for relief.”
People residing in the localities nearby the landfill site are demanding to move the garbage to an alternate site or convert it into a park. The residents face a lot of troubles in their daily life because of the landfill whereas EDMC officials tell us that they spend 700 crore rupees every year in cleanliness. The reality it seems is not matching with the claims.

Conclusion
The problem of solid waste which is actually choking the capital city needs a solution. There is an urgent need to make the city liveable. Government launched various plans and schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Plastic Waste Management Rules, Good Green Deeds and others which aim at cleanliness, curbing pollution, protecting environment and so on. But, there is a need for the schemes to work effectively on the ground. This can only be possible with the whole-hearted cooperation of all including the citizen.