The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has begun operations at its new landfill site at Narela-Bawana in northwest Delhi, according to a report by the Tribune News Service.
The new facility is in addition to the existing three landfill sites: Ghazipur in east Delhi, Bhalswa-Jehangirpuri in north Delhi and Okhla in south Delhi, which all reached capacity sometime ago.
The Narela-Bawana site will take handle from Rohini and Civil Lines zones and has an initial capacity to handle 1000 tonnes per day, with plans to expand that to 4000 tonnes per day.
According to the report the MCD had come under severe criticism for its inability to manage waste, as the existing overflowing landfill sites were also receiving construction and hazardous wastes - leading to contamination of soil and groundwater.
This Narela-Bawana landfill site has also been notified under the Master Plan 2021.
“We have started using the new landfill site and the garbage is now being dumped there,” said Subhash Arya, the Leader of the House in MCD.
The Rs 700 million ($14.2 million) integrated solid waste management facility is reported to have been developed to meet Delhi’s garbage disposal needs for the next 20 years, and is the first engineered landfill site in the city and is spread over 150 acres.
In addition to municipal waste, approximately 50 acres has kept aside for disposing of construction and demolition wastes.
Furthermore the MCD’s controversial Okhla waste to energy project is to start generating power this month, disposing of 2000 tonnes of the 8000 produced in Delhi every day and generating 16 MW of electricity.
