New Delhi: Urban development minister Ashish Sood on Friday visited the Bhalswa landfill site to review ongoing water processing work and said the capital was “rapidly moving towards freedom from garbage mountains”, with the govt intensifying bio-mining operations and targeting complete remediation of the site by Dec this year.
Sood directed officials to expedite waste-processing work ahead of the monsoon. “Around 43 acres of land have already been reclaimed at the site, where the height of the garbage mound has reduced by 30-40 metres in several stretches. The objective is not only to remove garbage mountains but also to redevelop these sites for public use. Delhi govt is committed to building a clean, green and pollution-free city,” he said.
Nearly 73 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste existed at the Bhalswa site in June 2022. Since then, large-scale bio-mining operations under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0 have accelerated waste processing. According to the minister, the site's bio-mining capacity has increased from around 8,000 tonnes per day to nearly 15,000 tonnes daily.
Sood said Delhi’s three landfill sites — Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur — together processed a record 74 lakh tonnes of waste during 2025-26. He added that Bhalswa and Okhla are expected to be fully remediated this year, while work at Ghazipur has also gained momentum following the availability of additional land.
Around 255 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste have been processed across the three landfill sites so far, reclaiming nearly 75 acres of land, he said.