Will close Delhi landfills if win MCD polls: Congress

New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) The Congress on Sunday said it will ensure closure of all sanitary landfills in Delhi in two years if elected to power in Delhi municipal bodies.

At an event organised by Congress at the Gazipur landfill site, former Union Environment Minster Jairam Ramesh termed the presence of such sites in the national capital as a "disgrace" not only for the incumbent government but also for the society as a whole.

While accepting the magnitude of trash generated by a city as populous as Delhi (approximately 9,000 metric tonnes daily), he said that more than 40 per cent or 3,600 metric tonnes of this waste goes untreated.

He said efficient waste management system including proper segregation and composting needs to be deployed in Delhi at the earliest, and added that households will be given free blue and green bins for waste segregation.

"The Congress-led municipal corporations will build a mechanism to transport biodegradable waste to the local compost machine which will then be converted into fertiliser bringing down the amount of waste going to landfill sites," he said.

Ramesh said that Congress-run civic bodies will strictly adhere to the revised Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

"Keeping up with the best practices, the municipal bodies will follow the 5-R concept for waste-management, that is, reduce, reuse, recover, recycle and re-manufacture," the former Minister added.

He said he made efforts for closing the landfills located in Narela-Bawana, Bhalaswa, Okhla and Ghazipur localities during his tenure as the Union Environment Minster. But all directives sent by his Ministry fell on deaf ears in the BJP-ruled civic bodies.

Accompanied by the local Congress leaders and the candidate, Ramesh also erected a flag bearing "Mission Zero Landfill Delhi" on the giant waste mountain.