Landfill sites: Centre asks Delhi govt. to release funds, civic agencies to work together

Municipal corporations asked to increase efforts to segregate waste at source

Reviewing the progress of remediation of the legacy landfills in the national capital, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on Monday asked the Delhi government to release funds to the municipal corporations, the civic bodies and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to work together to settle land issues.

The meeting comes days after a fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi, one of the three legacy dumpsites in the city. Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Manoj Joshi chaired the meeting with senior officials of various Ministries, the Delhi government, the three municipal corporations and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), during which “it was emphasised that the key to attracting private sector participation in this sector was robust source segregation which would enable subsequent processing of waste”, the Ministry said in a statement.

The municipal corporations were asked to increase their efforts to segregate waste at source, it said. The Delhi government would explore the option of using the Green Cess Fund for transportation of the excavated waste from the Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills. The municipal corporations were asked to carry out a detailed analysis to optimise costs.

“It was also decided that MoHUA would deploy an independent agency to study the monitoring mechanisms carried out in cities including at Delhi and share the best practices of incorporating high quality monitoring at sites. As an immediate follow-up, Government of Delhi was requested to disburse the Central share of funds released by MoHUA to all MCDs, after adding the requisite UT share to the funds,” the Ministry added.

The municipal corporations were asked to prepare detailed proposals for dealing with the waste being generated daily and send the proposals to the Ministry with the approval of the Delhi government “so as to ensure that no additional dumpsites are created”.