7 facts about Ghazipur landfill, India's Mountain of Garbage

India’s tallest garbage mountain, the Ghazpiur dump site located in East Delhi, caught fire on Monday afternoon. The Delhi Fire Services received a call at around 2.27 pm on March 28. After that, more than 50 firemen have been deployed at the site. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Delhi Pollution Control Chief (DPCC) has been asked to look into the incident and submit a report within 24 hours.

But is it the first time that the Ghazipur dump site has caught fire? Wasn’t this in years in the making? The dump site, in the past, has also been in the news for several reasons. In March 2021 too, local people had complained of high pollution levels after the landfill caught fire. A similar incident took place in October 2017, when a garbage mountain had partially collapsed and it led to the death of two people.

AAP MLA Atishi Marlena has blamed the Centre for delaying the MCD polls and further worsening the Ghazipur landfill issue.

Here are 7 facts you must know about India's Mountain of Garbage, the Ghazipur landfill:

1. MOUNTAIN OF WASTE AT PAR WITH QUTUB MINAR

The Ghazipur dump site receives almost 3,000 metric tonnes of waste every day, delivered by around 700 trucks. The mountain of waste at present is around 65 metres tall (around 213 ft), which is almost at par with the height of the Taj Mahal, which is around 73 metres. The height of this waste mountain rises by 10 m every year. Currently, the Ghazipur mountain is 8 metres short of the Qutub Minar.

In terms of area, the landfill dumpsite covers an area of 70 acres; which is larger than that of the Taj Mahal, which is spread across 42 metres.  

2. DUMPSITE STARTED IN 1984

The Ghazipur landfill was commissioned by the Delhi government in 1984. It had crossed the capacity in 2002 itself. Despite this, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has done nothing in the last two decades to resolve this issue. The problem is aggravating with each passing day.

3. UNSEGREGATED WASTE, A FIRE HAZARD

A big issue with the Ghazipur dump site is the mixture of highly combustible materials along with regular waste, which leads to fire.

Dr Almira Patel, an environmental policy advocate conducted an extensive study on the Ghazipur landfill. She found that unsegregated dumping of waste was the root cause of many issues. Speaking to the Indian Express, she said that the solution to this problem is bio-remediation and bio-mining. But she said that over the years, no action has been taken by the government. She also called it the lack of political will to resolve this issue. 

She had also filed a PIL in 1996 against open dumping of solid waste.

4. RESIDENTS INHALE POISONOUS SMOKE

The frequent fires that break out at the site are a menace to tens of thousands of people living near the landfill. The waste which catches fire releases Nitrous Oxide, Carbon Dioxide; a cause of breathing ailments for the people.

Even the stench which arises from waste is a big issue. Children suffer the worst. Asthma, shortness of breath, stunted growth are some of the common ailments seen in the children around the Ghazipur dump site.

5. GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATED

The garbage has also led to the contamination of ground water, which is again causing health issues among the people. The toxic chemical compounds cause formation of leachate - a substance that further combines with groundwater and pollutes it. This makes the water unfit for drinking and causes serious illnesses like cholera, polio, typhoid and the like. Stricken by poverty, many people are dependent on this groundwater for sustenance.

6. LANDFILL, LIVELIHOOD FOR RAGPICKERS

The site is also the major source of income for all the ragpickers, who segregate the waste items and later make a living by selling them. These people endanger their lives by going into the slopes of waste to find something valuable.

In 2019, when the landfill was closed for the sanitation workers and ragpickers, it rendered them jobless. But they had already suffered a lot by then. They were not paid on time, given that the whole process was managed by the informal sector and there was no data on how many ragpickers are officially registered.

7. GAUTAM GAMBHIR PROMISED A SOLUTION

In December 2020, a Delhi Assembly environment meeting was held to discuss the Ghazipur landfill. When the issue was raised by AAP MLA Atishi Marlena, East Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir said that around 3,000 metric tonnes of waste was being processed every day and by 2024, the entire garbage would be processed. He had said that by the end of 2023, 50% of the dump will be processed, and 100% of it will be processed by the end of 2024.