New Delhi: Delhi’s much-promised dream of getting rid of its three landfill sites remains elusive.
The Bhalswa landfill was adopted by Union housing and urban affairs minister ML Khattar in Sept 2025. However, 21 lakh metric tonnes of waste remains at the site. Wahi said over 1 crore metric tonnes of legacy waste had been cleared but the remaining will take time to be processed, adding, “Officials have been instructed to accelerate the pace of the waste disposal process. Progress reports on waste disposal will be reviewed daily, Wahi said, adding, “Around 30% of land at Bhalswa and 60% at Okhla have been reclaimed through legacy waste disposal. Before the latest timeline revision, MCD had in mid-Oct extended the deadline to Feb 2027. The previous contractor had been assigned the task of removing 30 lakh metric tonnes.
The new agency took time to set up machinery and begin operations, resulting in a disruption in the biomining process, said officials. Wahi said disposal of fresh waste had also been accelerated. Following the completion of phase II, MCD floated a fresh tender and another agency took over at revised rates, resulting in a gap in operations, said officials. “Factors like rain and dumping of fresh waste also led to delay,” said an official. “MCD is aggressively working on establishing five fresh waste processing plants so that fresh dumping can be stopped,” said the official. An MCD official said construction of the fresh waste processing plants at Okhla and Singhola had begun, with a target to complete the work by Nov-end.
The work had been suspended last month after the agency engaged for Phase II completed its target. He had assured it would be flattened within a year. The number of machines deployed will be increased and a state-of-the-art machine, ‘Vajra’, was being installed for the purpose, he added. Officials attributed the delay to several reasons, including a change of contractor responsible for processing and removing the legacy waste.
On Thursday, mayor Pravesh Wahi and MCD commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar visited the site to review the progress of biomining work under Phase III.