South MCD kicks off process for setting up green-friendly landfill at Okhla

The South Delhi municipal body will begin the tendering process to set up an engineered landfill at a 32-acre-plot at Tehkhand in Okhla, a proposal that has been pending since 2017. The project was approved, with modifications, by the civic body’s House in a meeting on Wednesday.

The project, which was taken up as part of the Municipal Solid Waste Rules (2016), was first introduced in 2017 and got an approval from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) in 2018. However, the project was last year modified to accommodate other features and was pending approval since then.

The modified version was then placed before the corporation’s standing committee in March this year. More changes were made to the plan, after which it was in the House.

“The project has been approved by the House now and tenders will be floated soon to award work. The project is important because it will be the first such engineered landfill in Delhi that will come up as per specifications laid out under the 2016 MSW Rules. It will largely help in reducing air and water pollution caused by the dumping of waste at the existing landfill,” said Colonel (retd) B K Oberoi, chairman of SDMC’s standing committee.

The project is estimated to cost ₹55.5 crore and is scheduled to be completed within 18 months, the official added.

An engineered landfill site is designed according to specifications under the MSW Rules, which require meeting certain environmental parameters to ensure it does not cause pollution or expose the immediate population to health risks.

It has to have provisions for leachate collection, safe dumping, processing and disposal. The present landfills in Delhi are just open dumping sites. These do not have any mechanism to hold waste scientifically or stop leachate from the waste, which has already polluted the groundwater aquifers in the area.

The Okhla landfill with a height of more than 60 metres has grown far beyond its permissible limit of 20-30 metres and is not in a position to handle any more waste. Once the new scientifically engineered site is functional, it will take the daily dumping load off the existing Okhla landfill. The existing landfill will then just be left with the legacy waste to be processed over time.

The plan also includes an interlinked project to set a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant with a capacity to process 2,000 metric tonnes of waste per day, which is likely to come up on an adjacent 15-acre-plot.

According to officials, the project includes collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of waste.

“At present, the legacy waste at the existing landfill site is being done away with using bio-mining and bio-remediation methods, which is a long-drawn procedure. The new engineered site will be an effective alternative to the problem of waste building up on a daily basis and the leachate contaminating groundwater,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be named.

At present, the SDMC area generates approximately 3600 metric tonnes of waste per day, almost 50% of which is dumped at the existing landfill site at Okhla, without any processing. “The Okhla landfill/dumpsite is spread in an area of approximately 46 acres and its present height is already beyond 60 metres, against the permissible 20-30 metres, as per SWM Rules. The landfill is not in a position to handle any more waste,” stated the finalised proposal.

According to the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) 2021, the three landfill sites in Delhi --- Okhla, Bhalaswa and Ghazipur --- all exceeded their capacity in 2008. Most of these sites have contaminated the aquifers and groundwater in and around their surrounding residential areas.