The height of the Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi has matched the height of Qutub Minar. Photo: Reuters
- The ruling party said it won’t allow another landfill site in the city and threatened to launch a “massive agitation” if the civic body goes ahead with a new plan.
- Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said instead of working to remediate the existing landfill sites, the BJP has asked the national government for land to create another.
- Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor hit out at the AAP, saying its leaders are “crossing all sane limits” to “politically malign” the city’s civic bodies.
New Delhi: Having “gifted” three garbage hills to Delhiites, the BJP-led municipal corporation has asked the Centre for land in east Delhi to create another dumping yard in the national capital, the AAP said on Sunday.
The ruling party said it will not allow another landfill site to come up in the city and threatened to launch a “massive agitation” if the civic body goes ahead with its plan.
East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal and the Delhi BJP, however, said the Aam Aadmi Party was raising a fuss and its allegations “lack logic”.
Speaking at a press conference, senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said instead of working on the remediation of the existing landfill sites in Delhi, the BJP has asked the national government for land to create another one.
“The Ghazipur landfill yet again caught fire yesterday, causing a great deal of inconvenience and frustration for the people (living) there. The entire area is engulfed in smoke due to the fire. Despite being aware of such a distressing situation, the BJP is so shameless that it has sought permission for a new landfill site,” he said.
“This land belongs to the Ghazipur Paper Mill, for which they have requested the DDA to establish a fourth landfill site in Delhi,” he said.
The BJP has already “gifted” three colossal landfill sites to Delhiites – one each at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur – which have been causing significant harm to a large number of people and animals as well as the environment, he added.
Terming the move “unreasonable and inexplicable”, the AAP leader said his party will not allow creation of a new dumping yard in the city.
“We will oppose the move tooth and nail. Even if each one of us has to take to the streets to oppose it, we will willingly do so. We will launch a massive agitation against the BJP if it does not withdraw the move,” Pathak said.
When contacted, East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal accused the AAP of “playing politics over the landfill site”, saying the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is raising a fuss as it does not want Delhi to become a clean city.
“For quite some time now, we have been asking the DDA for a plot of land which can serve as an alternative site to dump garbage till the Ghazipur landfill is remediated,” he said.
“Initially, the land was to be allotted in Sonia Vihar but it didn’t work out. It also did not work out at another site. Now, we are waiting,” he added.
If the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) gets the land, “we will get a tall fence made around it so that there is no offensive sight or smell” due to the dumping of garbage, he said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor hit out at the AAP, saying its leaders like Durgesh Pathak are “now crossing all sane limits” to “politically malign” the civic bodies in the city.
“These days, AAP leaders’ allegations totally lack logic, making AAP leaders look like comic characters,” he said, asking, “Will Pathak tell the people if he won’t allow any landfill site, then where will garbage be disposed in Delhi?”
The BJP leader said there is a need to develop “one or two more landfill sites”, where garbage can be disposed of on a daily basis without allowing fresh garbage mounds to come up.
Kapoor said the garbage disposal work has moved at a snail’s pace due to the lack of funds with the three municipal corporations.
“Pathak and other AAP leaders keep raising questions regularly on Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfill sites but can they tell the people of Delhi what cooperation the Delhi government has extended to MCDs for reducing the height of these landfill sites,” he said.