At 65 metres, the garbage mound at Ghazipur is just about eight metres short of the historic Qutub Minar.
Despite promises by political leaders over the past many years, around 78 lakh tonnes of waste has piled up at the east Delhi landfill, which was commissioned in 1984.
“This monster has continued to consume land around it. It has impacted our health, but politicians continue to make fake assurances about removing it in every election season,” says 55-year-old Nandan Singh Negi.
Mr. Negi came to Ghazipur from Uttarakhand’s Almora around three decades ago. “Since then, I’ve seen the garbage mound become a talking point either during the election season or when it catches fire,” he says.
‘Children, adults ill’
Sheikh Sahalam, a resident of Ghazipur village, says most children in the area contract malaria and suffer from fever due to the infections spread by the garbage mound. Many grown-ups suffer from skin diseases and lung-related ailments, he adds.
“What more can we expect from elected representatives when they have not even been able to build public toilets in the vicinity or provide clean drinking water,” says the 42-year-old ragpicker.
Voters across the East Delhi constituency, which comprises 10 Assembly segments — Gandhi Nagar, Kondli, Patparganj, Krishna Nagar, Jangpura, Trilokpuri, Laxmi Nagar, Vishwas Nagar, Okhla, and Shahdara — also complained about the lack of development in the area.
Rajesh Kumar, a shopkeeper in Gandhi Nagar, says the road running through the market, believed to be Asia’s largest readymade garments market, has always been in bad shape.
“The road itself continues to remain dilapidated even as sewer lines around it are perennially clogged,” he adds.
Safety concerns
Leaving behind the narrow lanes of Gandhi Nagar, as one proceeds towards Preet Vihar, the more affluent part of the constituency that houses many businesspersons, complaints about civic issues reduce. However, people here express safety-related concerns.
Sunil Gupta, 61, says that in the past few years, the area has seen an increase in thefts and robberies. “Only a month ago, some people broke into the house of a lawyer here. They assaulted the family and looted their belongings,” he added.
BJP stronghold
The Lok Sabha seat, which has nearly 21 lakh voters, has remained a BJP stronghold since 1991. The party has won from the constituency in every general election since, except in 2004 and 2009, when Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit secured successive victories.
However, the BJP replaced its sitting MPs in 2014 and 2019. This time, it has fielded Harsh Malhotra, who has held the Mayor’s post in the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Mr. Malhotra is pitted against Aam Aadmi Party’s Kuldeep Kumar, who won the 2017 civic elections from east Delhi’s Kalyanpuri ward and later became an MLA from the Kondli reserved seat in the 2020 Assembly election. Calling himself the “son” of the area, Mr. Kumar has promised to get rid of the landfill. “I have lived and worked here, and promise to eliminate the landfill in the next 2-3 years,” the 35-year-old AAP leader has said.
Mr. Malhotra says he is aware of the impact the landfill has been making on the lives of people in Ghazipur and the nearby areas of Trilokpuri and Kondli. “If the BJP wins the 2025 Assembly election, all these things will be remedied,” he says.Mr. Malhotra says he is aware of the impact the landfill has been making on the lives of the people in Ghazipur and the nearby areas of Trilokpuri and Kondli. “If the BJP wins the 2025 Assembly election, all these things will be remedied,” he says.
