The new local government of New Delhi has made a commitment to remove one of the city’s largest garbage heaps by the end of March 2026. This promise to clean up the capital city is part of their broader election pledge for India.
Located on the city’s northern outskirts, the Bhalswa dump is a formidable mountain of waste, with multiple overflowing landfills dotting the Delhi skyline, some towering up to 60 meters (200 feet) high. According to official records, 4 million tons of waste are currently sitting at the Bhalswa site.
Delhi’s latest environment minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, made the announcement during a ceremonial event attended by other high-ranking city officials. The attendees planted bamboo saplings at a section of the landfill site that had been recently reclaimed.
The Bhalswa landfill, once covering 70 acres of land, has now seen 25 acres reclaimed. The minister stated that by the end of 2025, the landfill would no longer be visible from a distance. The government’s cleanup efforts at the site began in 2019 and yielded visible reductions in the waste mountain’s height by 11-12 meters during the first year. However, despite the progress, the city continues to add to the site, with Delhi generating over 11,000 tons of solid waste daily.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling right-wing political party, won a majority in the February local elections, and their campaign included pledges to clean up Delhi’s air and water pollution. The BJP’s victory reflects the electorate’s desire for a cleaner urban environment.
Once the Bhalswa dump is cleared, the government plans to turn its attention to the Okhla and Ghazipur landfills. Thousands of Delhi’s most impoverished residents, who have migrated from rural areas, live in the neighborhoods surrounding the Bhalswa landfill, often making a living by scavenging through the waste.
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Source: https://www.dw.com/en/india-delhi-pledges-to-flatten-garbage-mountain/a-71830952?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
