DELHI AND
IT’S GARBAGE
AN
ADMINISTRATIVE MESS
SARASIJ
MAJUMDER
INTRODUCTION:
Central
government disclosed data before two-judge Supreme Court bench during hearing
of PIL on rising pollution levels in NCR & nearby areas. Over 14,000 tonnes
of municipal solid waste is generated in Delhi-NCR each day, Centre tells SC.
The
above, and more such details related to waste management in Delhi and NCR are
part of a central government affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.
There
are 3 landfill sites namely Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. Bhalswa landfill
site were commissioned in the year 1994, Ghazipur in 1984 and Okhla in 1996.
INSTRUCTION FROM JUDICIARY:
Taking
note of the affidavit, a bench led by Justice Abhay S. Oka termed the situation
of solid waste management in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Alwar and
Greater Noida, as “HORRIBLE”.
The court was hearing an old public interest litigation (PIL) on rising
pollution levels in the national capital and nearby areas.
The
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs submitted an affidavit came for hearing
at the top court on 22 April, and the Court directed the ministry to convene a meeting to
take stock of the implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules,
2016.
In
response the ministry said that the responsibility to ensure implementation of
the rules lies with urban local bodies and urban development departments of the
respective state governments. ARE YOU LISTENING, Mr. KEJRIWAL??
Pursuant
to the top court’s order, the ministry held three meetings with the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB),
Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and municipal bodies of Delhi,
Gurugram, Faridabad, Alwar and Greater Noida.
On perusal of the affidavit, the bench, also
comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, observed that non-treatment
of such a huge amount of solid waste in Delhi is a violation of the fundamental
right of citizens to live in a pollution-free environment. The bench pressed the need
for immediate measures to ensure the quantity of untreated solid waste does not
increase till proper facilities are put in place to treat it. IT MAY BE POINTED THAT WE PAY TAX FOR THIS SERVICE. Not
for paying fees to Mr. Singhi—the Advocate.
The
ministry’s affidavit revealed further that of the 8,627 metric tonnes (MT) of
construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated in NCR each day, a little
over 3,600 MT remains unprocessed. More than 40% not processed??? I suggest--this activity can be reduced to acceptable limit,
till processing Capacity is enhanced.
WHAT AAP SAID:
AAP
MP Swati Maliwal raised the issue of garbage collection in Delhi and said that
she wants the Centre to answer if they have received any proposal from the MCD
to clean the landfill sites. Reacting to Maliwal's question, Union Environment
Minister in Modi cabinet Bhupender Yadav
said that it would be good if she asks this to the Delhi government.
MY
OBSERVATION: Since the URBAN NAXAL
Kejriwal & his team came to
power in Delhi in 2015, centre-state tussle increased manifold. Previously
Shiela Dikshit govt worked with NDA (Mr. Vajpayee) and UPA ( Dr. MMS) govt. without much of a conflict , and was doing her job better. Mr. Kejriwal didn’t do
anything regarding everything including garbage dump site problems, or towards
it’s solution, since he became C.M.
Based on my experience, Mr. Kejriwal is
the most callous C.M.
TECHNICAL DISCUSSION:
In
Delhi alone, the daily waste generation in all the three jurisdictions —
Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) — is about 11,350 TPD and the legacy
waste is 280 LMT. But only 8,073 TPD is processed, while around 3,800 TPD of
fresh waste is dumped at the two dumpsites, Ghazipur and Bhalswa.
According
to the affidavit, new processing facilities are to be set up at five more
places in the next four years will increase the processing capacity of waste
generation to 15,473 TPD. Plans are also in the pipeline for 100 percent
remediation of legacy waste, but that too would be fully operational till December
2027.
Delhi
generates around 6,000 TPD construction and demolition waste, of which 1,000
TPD remains untreated. Bids have been invited for earmarking seven acres of
reclaimed land at a sanitary landfill in Okhla for a new plant so that the
entire waste generated is processed.
As an Engineer—I like to point out that the
GARBAGE PRODUCTION also will increase, and old processing plants will suffer from loss of efficiency—and
we may still be in the same condition in 2027!
While
Gurugram sees a daily waste generation of 1,200 TPD, the current processing
capacity is only 150 TPD. Work for management of municipal solid waste in the
millennium city was allotted to a private firm, but due to a breach of contract
on its part, Gurugram authorities have terminated the concession agreement with
it. A fresh tender will be processed within the next six months to a new
company and work is likely to be commissioned by January 2025 by it. A new
plant to process the daily waste will be installed by December 2026, discloses
the central government’s affidavit.
It also
said daily generation of construction and demolition waste in Gurugram is 1,500
TPD, of which only 600 is processed. A proposal to have another plant of 1,000
TPD capacity is under approval of the Committee of Secretaries on
Infrastructure and the same will be commissioned by August 2025.
A very poor show by Haryana Government!
Similarly,
in Faridabad the gap between the daily waste generated and disposed of , is
more than 700 TPD. Authorities there have implemented short-term measures and a
proper plant will be commissioned by December 2026 to meet the shortfall, it
added.
In
Faridabad, however, there is no facility to dispose of 300 TPD of construction
waste. The authority should make a plan.
Each
of the satellite towns has legacy waste of 33 LMT and in both 16.41 LMT has
been remediated. The remaining quantity of 16.59 LMT is expected to be
processed by December end, the affidavit said.
In
Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad and Greater Noida, the estimated quantity of
municipal solid waste generated is 1,950 TPD. While the processing capacity in
Ghaziabad is more than the waste production, Noida’s shortfall is 218 TPD. The
total legacy waste assessed in Ghaziabad is 2.69 LMT, of which 1.46 LMT has
been remediated, whereas in greater Noida it is 3.69 MLT. As for the C&D
waste, Ghaziabad is for now well equipped to match the daily generation of 325
TPD, but “…Greater Noida still lacks the facility to dispose of 100-500 TDP ( something wrong?)produced
every day”…, said the affidavit.
Action
needed, Mr. YOGI!
The
facility available to process daily municipal waste in Rajasthan’s Alwar can
treat 134 of the 180 TPD municipal waste, but at present the plant is unable to
treat additional capacity of 129 TPD and will become fully operational by
September 2024. Legacy waste in Alwar will be processed completely by August
2024. However, there is no plant to cater to the C&D waste generation in
the city.
All
these are causing HEALTH HAZARD.
If
you look at INDORE, it is so clean! NCR has to learn much!
Only 2 BJP leaders worked for reducing
the height of Ghazipur garbage dump. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari said in September
2023 that NHAI/government used around 30 lakh tonnes of garbage for highway
construction from the Ghazipur landfill site which led to the lowering of the
height of the 'garbage mountain' by seven metres. The other BJP leader who
worked on Ghazipur dump mountain problem is ex-cricketer and ex-east Delhi MP
Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir worked on target oriented plan to flatten the garbage
mountain.
AAP
was formed and operated by andolan-jivi Urban Naxals, who are the most useless politicians. During
Sheila Dikshit era, Ghazipur garbage dump almost reached the height of Qutub
Minar with no focus to solve the issue. Kejriwal only engaged in petty
politics. On 1st September 2017, due to heavy rains, a part of Ghazipur garbage
mountain of 50 tons came down and killed two motorists. Kejriwal did nothing to
solve the problem except giving compensation to the victims and blamed the
previous congress govt.
With
top AAP leadership in jail, AAP is only doing ‘press conference’ politics for
publicity. There is no govt in Delhi now, (WAS IT BEFORE???) and there was no effective Government in
Delhi since AAP came into ministry.
KEJRI seems to be an aberration for IIT brand value.
Garbage generation rate in DELHI NCR is
less than 0.45 kg per head per day, and should be easily manageable. Worldwide,
waste generated per person per day average is 0.74 kilogram. However, it can be further reduced.
I
STRONGLY REQUEST NDA GOVERNMENT TO SCRAP
THIS SCAM RIDDEN AAP GOVERNMENT OF DELHI
AND RE-CONVERT DELHI TO U.T., AND
HAND OVER COMPLETE GARBAGE COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND DISPOSAL SYSTEM IN A
COMPETENT PRIVATE HAND, MAY BE TATA.
NOTE:-- I have collected information
from base sources as well, but maintenance engineers wanted to remain ANONYMUS.
Reference:
1.0 http://www.cdjlawjournal.com/long.php?id=4378
2.0-https://zeenews.india.com/auto/20-lakh-tonne-garbage-used-to-make-uer-ii-ring-road-in-delhi-nitin-gadkari-at-convergence-india-expo-2023-2588731.html
3.0-https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2022/Dec/22/ghazipur-landfill-height-reduced-by-18mts-sayseast-delhi-mp-gautam-gambhir-2530631.html
4.0-https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/two-killed-as-50-tonnes-of-waste-hurtles-down-ghazipur-landfill/articleshow/60332295.cms
Image :- IMAGE:--Kejriwal at
Ghazipur garbage dump site.
Picture
source: Google / Respective rightful owner is acknowledged.
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