New Delhi: Delhi has reclaimed 100 acres of landfill space — equal to nearly 60 football fields — by clearing 15 lakh truckloads of legacy waste at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur, as govt races against time to flatten these mountains of garbage.“So far, around 2.16 crore metric tonnes of waste have been processed across the three sites. This has helped provide a cleaner environment for people living in the surrounding areas,” chief minister Rekha Gupta’s office said.North Delhi’s Bhalswa has accounted for the largest clean-up, with 1 crore tonnes of waste processed and 45 acres reclaimed, followed by south Delhi’s Okhla (70 lakh tonnes and 35 acres) and east Delhi’s Ghazipur (44 lakh tonnes and 20 acres).Govt has set this Dec as the deadline to flatten Bhalswa and clear Okhla landfills, while the deadline for Ghazipur is Dec 2027.However, the city has seen similar targets set made and deadlines missed. Okhla has already seen the target pushed back several times, including a fifth revision this year. With fresh waste still reaching the landfill sites even as biomining is on to remove legacy waste, the real test for govt will be whether these fresh deadlines see the end of Delhi’s mountains of garbage.CM Gupta said inert material recovered after processing waste at Ghazipur is being used for filling low-lying areas and preparing the base beneath roads. “This has ensured not only the scientific processing of waste but also utilisation of material recovered through the process,” she said.Once the processing plants are ready, govt will develop the capacity to process the waste generated every day at the same pace, ensuring that it does not continue to accumulate and turn into new garbage mountains. “Delhi govt is focused on scientific management of all kinds of waste,” the CM added.
