After Supreme Court's rebuke, LG office says working to solve problem

 ​New Delhi: Days after the Supreme Court castigated Lt Governor Anil Baijal for doing nothing to get the “mountains of garbage” cleared, his office on Monday said that work is already underway to address these problems in a time bound manner and in a “comprehensive and sustainable way”.

A statement issued by LG’s office stated that the problem of garbage mounds is a “legacy problem of six decades” and multiple issues have made it a “challenging task”. It said Baijal had been regularly reviewing and monitoring garbage disposal plans and actions of MCDs for management of legacy mounds and processing of daily waste generated their “site specific challenges” and imminent requirement of remediation of these huge mounds. 

“As a result of intensive and continuous monitoring by the lieutenant governor through site visits and regular meetings and the directions and guidance given, work is already underway to address these problems in a time bound manner in a comprehensive and sustainable way,” the statement stated. 

Last week, the apex court had castigated Baijal for adopting a “superman” attitude but doing nothing to get the “mountains of garbage” of the city cleared, with one of the dumping sites even reaching a height close to that of the Qutub Minar. 

Terming the situation in Delhi as “absolutely bizarre”, the top court had referred to the “mountains of garbage” at three landfill sites in Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa, and said there was a 65-metre mound at Ghazipur which was “only eight metre less than the historic Qutub Minar”. 

The L-G office said that immediately after assuming office, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal visited all the three landfill sites and Construction and Demolition Waste Plants (C&D Waste) at Burari and Shastri Park. According to the statement, all projects at landfill sites that are underway will be completed by August 2020 and after completion of these three projects, it is expected that no untreated garbage will be dumped at the landfill sites.