New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Manohar Lal, on Thursday visited the Bhalswa landfill site in North Delhi to review the ongoing legacy waste remediation work and directed civic officials to complete the task by September this year. During the visit, Manohar Lal reviewed the biomining operations, environmental safeguards, fire prevention measures, leachate management systems, and the future road map for complete remediation of the dumpsite, said an official statement.

In a message on X, the Union Minister said, “Today, I conducted a detailed inspection of the ongoing cleaning and waste processing operations at the Bhalswa Dumpsite. Last year, I had resolved that by October 2026, this dumpsite would be completely eliminated, and work is continuing at a war-footing to achieve that very goal.” “To eliminate this massive mountain of garbage, the processing of legacy waste and the scientific waste disposal process have been accelerated through scientific and modern technologies,” he said.

“At the same time, continuous efforts are being made to improve cleanliness, health safety, and civic amenities in the surrounding areas while ensuring compliance with environmental standards,” said Manohar Lal. “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, the Central government is fully committed to realizing the vision of 'Swachh Bharat Mission' by providing Delhi residents with a clean and pollution-free environment, and in this direction, all necessary steps are being swiftly taken to ensure the closure of the Bhalswa dumpsite within the stipulated timeframe,” he said.

The officials told the Union Minister that the site had approximately 73 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste in June 2022, and since July 2022, biomining operations have been continuously undertaken in mission mode, with around 15,000 metric tonnes processed daily. As on May 26 this year, around 23.17 lakh metric tonnes of waste is left at the site for remediation. Manohar Lal said that owing to the sustained biomining and remediation efforts, nearly 43 acres of land has been reclaimed out of the total dumpsite area of about 70 acres.

Bhalswa dumpsite has been adopted by Manohar Lal under the Dumpsite Remediation and Action Plan (DRAP) initiative, a nationwide mission-mode programme launched by the Ministry under Swachh Bharat Mission -U 2.0. The plan aims for remediation of major legacy dumpsites across the country with the target of achieving 'Lakshya Zero Dumpsites' through scientific remediation, environmental restoration, and reclamation of valuable urban land.

--IANS