Garbage mounds will vanish like dinosaurs, says Environment Minister

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
| Photo Credit: Aman Raj

The Delhi government is working on a war footing to clear the city’s garbage mounds, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Thursday during an inspection of east Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill.

He said the government is exploring the possibility of hiring a private agency to expedite the processing of legacy waste, adding that within the next five years all three landfills in the city will be cleared.

“The garbage mountains in Delhi will disappear just like the dinosaurs,” said the Minister.

“Roughly 70 lakh tonnes of waste has accumulated at the Ghazipur landfill. Of that, around 14 to 15 lakh tonnes has been processed. The processing capacity has picked up. The authorities now aim to increase the daily processing capacity to 8,000 tonnes over the next four to five months, for which a private contractor might be engaged,” said the Minister.

“If the contractor fails to meet the target, a penalty will be imposed,” he added.

Mr. Sirsa said Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and officials in the Environment Department will continuously monitor the progress of waste processing at all dumps and landfills.

“All data, including pollution levels and waste removal statistics, will be uploaded to a dashboard daily. Those who fail to meet the deadlines will face penalties,” he said.

Quality checks

“In future, we will keep a check on the vehicles entering the city to see whether those meet emission norms. We will also monitor every construction site over 500 square metres in the Capital to check whether our guidelines are being adhered to,” said the Minister.

Published – April 18, 2025 01:08 am IST

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