Protest to remove Ghazipur landfill in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Nearly a year after two people were swept away by a “landslide” at Ghazipur landfill, those living in its vicinity and social groups held a protest outside the dump yard demanding its immediate removal. The residents of Mayur Vihar Phase-III, Kondli, Ghazipur village, Gharoli dairy farms and several other colonies took out a protest march and sat on a dharna at the gate of the site.The protest caused a massive traffic jam on NH-24.
The protesters alleged that despite SC orders and directions from LG after the September 2017 incident, the corporations were still dumping garbage at Ghazipur. “The mountain of garbage is almost 65m tall now, while it should not have been more than 20m. Commissioned in 1984, the site should have been closed in 2002. The entire atmosphere is polluted and the groundwater is toxic,” said Prem Chandra Verma, president of Watchdogs India, which is spearheading the campaign for shifting the dump yard.
The protesters started the march from Mayur Vihar Phase-III and walked about 5km before settling down at the landfill’s main gate. Verma said they stopped at least 50 garbage trucks of EDMC from emptying the waste at the site. Activists alleged they had been raising the issue with the corporations, the Delhi government as well as LG, but no action had so far been taken.
“We have given the corporations 15 days to decide and finalise another dump. If they fail to do so, we will sit on indefinite dharna,” said KD Siddiqui, founder-president, International Human Rights Protection Council. According to EDMC officials, dumping of waste was stopped at Ghazipur and a site in Rani Khera, a village near Mundka, chosen after the accident. However, residents from nearby villages launched protests, forcing the corporation to look elsewhere.