Delhi CM Rekha Gupta says 100 acres reclaimed from landfill sites

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has announced that 100 acres of land have been reclaimed from the city’s three giant landfills over the last 18 months.

Speaking at the Okhla landfill site on Saturday, Gupta said the cleared areas are being turned green as part of a wider push to eliminate the capital's infamous garbage mountains.

The administration is fighting the city's waste crisis on two fronts, according to the Chief Minister. The first is clearing the "legacy" waste that has accumulated over decades. The second is processing the 3,000 to 4,000 metric tonnes of fresh waste that Delhi's households and businesses produce every single day.

At Okhla, Gupta said almost all legacy waste dating from before January 2025 has now been cleared, leaving only fresh waste to be continuously managed.

Where the new waste plants are being built

To prevent new garbage mountains from forming, Gupta laid the foundation stones for three new processing facilities on Saturday:

• A Rs 103-crore plant at Okhla with a daily processing capacity of 1,400 metric tonnes.
• A Rs 42-crore plant in Singhola designed to process 800 metric tonnes daily.
• A plant at Ghazipur that can handle 700 metric tonnes of waste per day, alongside a new biogas facility.

These sites will process both fresh household rubbish and construction waste, converting it into biogas, green energy and manure. "Waste should not remain waste; Delhi should use it as wealth," Gupta said, adding that new technologies are being introduced to sort and process waste more efficiently.

Ending the garbage mountains

The Chief Minister told reporters she had taken her "last selfie" with the Okhla rubbish heap, vowing to clear the remaining waste completely.

She also took aim at political rivals who had doubted the campaign. "I had said, garbage mountain, you will have to go; the opposition mocked. Today I will say the garbage mountain is going; now only its back remains," she said.

The clean-up efforts are not restricted to the major dump sites. On Friday, Gupta joined volunteers for a cleanliness drive in Azadpur as part of the "Seva Mera Yogdan" campaign, marking Gandhi Jayanti.

During an inspection of the area, she directed officials to clean up footpaths, repair damaged drainage, and paint underpass walls to improve the local environment. She also spoke with fruit vendors using the pavements, promising that officials would find a solution that protects their livelihoods while keeping paths clear for pedestrians.