After repeated complaints by the three Municipal Corporations about the absence of any new sanitary landfill site besides the existing ones which have been exhausted, some good news for them is in sight. The South, North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations have been offered a list of 10 possible sanitary landfill sites to deal with the problem of garbage.
The tentative list of five sites offered to the SDMC comprises a 450-acre plot in Bhati Mines, 60 acres near Okhla SLF, 30 acres in Tajpur Jaitpur Pahari, 150 acres in Ghitorni and 100 acres in Mandi village. The civic body will have to share the landfill sites with the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
“The possible landfill sites suggested for the North Delhi Municipal Corporation are a100-acre plot in Sultanpur Dabas, 150 acres in Pooth Khurd, 27.5 acres near Hamidpur village behind APMC compost plant, 42.5 acres near Palla village on Bakhtawar Pur Road and 62.5 acres between Palla village and Haryana border,” a civic body official said.
List yet to be cleared
The decision in this regard was taken after the commissioners of the civic bodies and the officials from the Union Urban Development Ministry and the Delhi Development Authority sat together on Tuesday and identified 10 alternative sites. But the suggested list will have to be cleared by the Forest and Environment Department, which may have some concerns. The next follow up meeting on the issue is expected on June 4.
The development assumes significance as there had been severe demands from the civic bodies for alternative SLF sites and strictures from courts but there was no progress in the matter. It was only after the recent Delhi High Court order that the respective agencies sat together and came out with the possible landfill sites.
The civic bodies have been using the existing landfill sites at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur even after the Delhi Pollution Control Committee banned dumping of garbage at three of the four existing dumping sites.
