Ghazipur landfill collapse: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal bans garbage dumping at site

New Delhi: Garbage dumping in Ghazipur has been banned with immediate effect and the landfill site is likely to be cleared within two years, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office said on Saturday.

A day after a portion of the waste dump, estimated to be as high as a 15-storey building, collapsed, killing two persons, Baijal held a meeting to take stock of the situation.

He directed that traffic be diverted on the road adjoining the landfill for proper vehicular movement.

“National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) assured the lieutenant governor that it will begin the process of lifting, segregating and processing of the solid waste by November 2017, for its use in road construction,” said a statement from the lieutenant governor’s office.

The process has been fast tracked and the entire landfill site would be cleared within two years, it said.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) that manages the landfill site will send collected garbage for disposal to some alternative site with immediate effect.

A day after torrential rain — the heaviest in three years — lashed Delhi, a section of the pile in a landfill slumped over a car and three two-wheelers, pushing the vehicles off the road and into a canal.

Expressing his condolences to the families of the two people who lost their lives, Baijal asked all agencies to be fully prepared to deal with such exigencies and to coordinate so that such unfortunate incidents do not recur.

The meeting was attended by Ranbir Singh, commissioner EDMC, RP Singh, general manager NHAI, Rajeev Verma, principal commissioner (lands) DDA, and experts in landfill site management.

Around 2,500 metric tonnes of garbage lifted from East Delhi is dumped each day in the Ghazipur landfill, the oldest of its kind in the national capital.

According to officials, the permissible height for a garbage dump is 20 metres. However, the Ghazipur dump was 60 metres high.