More than 30 acres of the 62-acre Okhla landfill have already been reclaimed and nearly 56 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste processed, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Thursday.

He said another 30 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of waste will be removed by December, with an advanced internal target of October.

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Sirsa on Thursday inspected the bio-mining operations at the Okhla landfill along with Delhi Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, MP Ramveer Singh Bidhuri, and senior MCD and Revenue officials.

He said more than 30 acres of the 62-acre site have already been reclaimed, and the landfill's height has been brought down from 60 metres to 20 metres.

The minister also claimed that 56 lakh MT of legacy waste have already been bio-mined, with over 6.5 lakh MT processed under Phase 2 in just a few months. A total of 30 lakh MT is targeted for removal by December, with the internal goal now advanced to October.

“Clean air, clean water, and complete removal of waste mountains are the top priorities under our mission of ‘Viksit Delhi'. A cleaner Delhi is no longer just a vision - it's becoming a reality,” Sirsa added.

Taking a dig at the previous Aam Aadmi Party government, Sirsa said, “They should be renamed ‘Aage Aaye Pollution (AAP) Party' for how single-handedly they worsened Delhi's air and waste crisis. We are doing what the ‘AAPda' (Disaster) government could not do in ten years.”

The bio-mining process involves scientific segregation of legacy waste into recyclable materials, Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), inert material, and soil-like substances.

The RDF is sent to cement plants and paper mills as alternative fuel, while the remaining fractions are used for site levelling and road construction in compliance with environmental norms.

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Highlighting the broader impact, Sirsa said the project is part of a wider transformation in Delhi's waste management system and aims to reduce fire hazards, prevent groundwater contamination, and improve the quality of life for those living near the landfills.

(Note: Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Jagran English staff. Credit:PTI)