Increase capacity of waste to energy plants: L-G to civic

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal today directed municipal corporations to increase the capacity of their existing waste to energy plants and the garbage at Ghazipur landfill site be cleared within two years beginning November.

Chairing a meeting here, which was attended by Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain, PWD's Principal Secretary Ashwani Kumar and commissioners of all the three civic bodies, the L-G said the waste would be used by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of service roads.

At the meeting, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) Commissioner apprised the L-G that presently, the civic body is collecting 4,650 metric tonnes of garbage per day, which consists of 2,600 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW), 1,400 metric tonnes of silt and 650 construction and demolition (C and D) waste.
 

"The L-G directed the EDMC to immediately take up expansion of the capacity of the existing waste to energy plant and in the first phase, and 650 MT of additional municipal solid waste would be dispatched there at the earliest," the Lt Governor's office said in a statement.

"For the remaining 650 MT of MSW, the SDMC was directed to get it processed at its Okhla waste to energy plant, within the prescribed environmental norms," it said.

It also stated that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) commissioner told the L-G that the civic body is collecting 3,900 MT MSW per day of which Narela-Bawana plant is utilising 2000 MT.

"The Lt Governor directed that for the remaining 1,900 MT MSW, the capacity of Narela-Bawana plant should be increased," the Lt Governor's office said.

Baijal said these steps would ensure that there is no further increase in mounds of garbage at Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfill sites.

The meeting was convened after a portion of the waste dump, estimated to be as high as a 15-storey building, collapsed on September 1, killing two persons.

Following the accident, Baijal had on Saturday imposed a ban on dumping of garbage at Ghazipur landfill site, and the waste meant for it was to be diverted to a temporary site in Ranikhera near the Delhi-Haryana border.