LG visits Okhla landfill site, review plan on its closure and redevelopment

New Delhi: Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Sunday visited the Okhla landfill site and reviewed the process for its closure and redevelopment, which includes a landscaped garden in its portion, officials said.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to work with experts from IIT-Delhi to stabilise the landfill site that has reached a staggering height of 165 feet. The massive dump in south Delhi was commissioned in 1996.  

"Lt Governor Anil Baijal visited the Okhla landfill site to review the process for its step-by-step closure and remediation. He was accompanied by SDMC Commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel, a team of experts from IIT, Engineer-in-Chief of SDMC Umesh Sachdeva, and senior officers of DDA and other departments," the SDMC said in a statement. 

SDMC and IIT have formulated an action plan for redevelopment of the site by developing an engineered landfill site in place of saturated and non-functional site, commissioning a construction-and-demolition recycling plant and developing an aesthetic  landscaped garden to make it a landmark of south Delhi in near future, it said. 

Baijal stressed upon the need to transform the landfill site into a new, environment-friendly place.  He asked various agencies to take care of the safety aspects during the work and ensure its timely completion.  Goel assured Baijal that the SDMC will develop this site into an eye-soothing project in a "very short span of time".  

"This landfill site was started in 1996 with over 40 acres of land, and now it has attained its maximum height of about 165 ft and has reached a saturation point. Keeping in view the incident of Ghazipur, SDMC plans for remediation of the site by its resources only without any external help. SDMC is planning to develop it as a beautiful green site," he said. 

Incidentally, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) had also roped in experts from IIT-Delhi last year to avoid a rerun of the Ghazipur landfill collapse and to work on measures to stabilise the dump site. 

In September, two persons were killed, prompting the city's Lt Governor to stop the dumping of waste on the site. The Ghazipur landfill came into existence in 1984 and is spread over 29 acres. It reached its saturation years ago.