This infamous landfill in Delhi is on its way to becoming an eco park

Do you wonder where all your waste goes once it’s taken away? While most of us believe that it is segregated, which is usually not at source, some may not even bother once the waste leaves their homes.

If you are a resident of Delhi, you might have heard of its infamous landfills, at Ghazipur and Okhla. Both landfills have earned quite a reputation over the decade following the never-ending piles of garbage the city dumps in them.

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Thankfully, things are changing at the Okhla landfill. The landfill that stood tall at 58 metres has not only come down to 38 metres but has also started having some green cover around it.

Commissioned in 1996, the site was being used by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to dump the waste generated by the city. According to NDTV, out of 3,500 tonnes collected every day, the SDMC was dumping 1,200 tonnes of waste in the Okhla landfill until 2018.

Thanks to the civic body, which put an end to further dumping, the Okhla landfill also saw new action in line with the decision made by former SDMC commissioner Puneet Goel in 2018, to build an ecological park on the site.

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To start the process, the civic body, along with an expert from IIT Delhi, started the process of converting the over-saturated landfill site into a green mound. Since then, 70 percent of the work has been completed and around 7,000 sqm of ground has been planted with grass.

Speaking to The Hindu, Additional Commissioner Ramesh Verma said,

“The height of the landfill will eventually be reduced to 30 metres. One side of the landfill has been fully greened. The project involved 58 workers employed in two shifts over the last 10 months.”

The grass cover will be maintained by using water from the Okhla wastewater treatment plant according to a proposed plan.

In addition, the civic body consulted the Sri Ram Institute of Industrial Research to analyse the area. The study was done for a ground stabilisation process through which physical properties of the soil will be improved. As per the institute’s study in 2018, the organic waste in the landfill was decomposed and was remaining was industrial waste.

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)

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