Progress of waste removal at Ghazipur landfill not satisfactory: CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday visited the Ghazipur landfill site and said the progress on the clearance of garbage from the massive dump was " unsatisfactory".

Interacting with reporters, Kejriwal said he has suggested that two more agencies be hired to expedite the work, with the approval of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi once it comes into place.

He said that three companies in a joint venture are tasked with processing the waste at the Ghazipur landfill.

However, since they started working on the project, the three agencies "have been at loggerheads", the chief minister said, adding that the progress on garbage removal from the landfill is "not satisfactory at all".

"There is already a plan to hire another agency, so I have told them to hire two agencies instead of one, so that work can pick up speed and we can clear out this mountain of garbage as soon as possible," Kejriwal added.

The chief minister said once the standing committee is in place and provides clearance for the hiring of two new agencies, "we will think if the current agencies are to be retained or not".

"I have been told that the MCD has done its paperwork pending the standing committee's approval," he added.

The civic officials had earlier said that the deadline to flatten the Ghazipur landfill is December 2024.

In 2019, the height of the Ghazipur landfill was 65 metres, only eight metres less than the height of Qutub Minar. In 2017, a portion of the Ghazipur landfill had fallen on an adjacent road in which two people were killed.

The AAP had made clearance of the three landfill sites one of its poll planks ahead of the civic polls held in December, which it had swept with a comfortable victory.

Kejriwal on Wednesday had visited the Okhla landfill site and said the work to process and remove waste from the massive dump was running behind the projected target.

His visit to the Okhla landfill had come days after a work inspection at the Bhalaswa landfill site on September 30.

A total of 45 lakh tonnes of waste was there in this mountain of garbage at Okhla. Work began last November to process and remove it gradually, and the target was to remove 30 lakh tonnes by May 2024, Kejriwal said on Wednesday.

"But, this work is running slightly behind the projected target. Till date, about 18 lakh tonne was to be removed, but 12 lakh tonne has been removed," he said.