#DPCC delegation, under the leadership of Shri Ajay Maken, meets Lt. Governor Dr Najeeb Jung to take up the polluting Bhalswa land fill issue.

DPCC delegation, under the leadership of Shri Ajay Maken, meets Lt. Governor Dr Najeeb Jung to take up the polluting Bhalswa land fill issue.

• Shri Ajay Maken says the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation are not following the rules framed by the Environment Ministry regarding Municipal Solid Waste Management.
• Shri Ajay Maken says there is provision in the Delhi Master Plan and the Zonal  Plan to green the Bhalswa landfill. 

NEW DELHI, June 8—A delegation of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, under the leadership of DPCC president Shri Ajay Maken, met Lt. Governor Dr Najeeb Jung at Raj Niwas today, and brought to his attention the massive air and water pollution being created by the smouldering Bhalswa land fill, near Jahangirpuri, making the life of the people in the area miserable. The delegation also submitted a detailed memorandum to Dr Najeeb Jung, requesting him to take prompt action to green the Bhalswa land fill area by closing it (A copy of the memorandum is enclosed). The Lt. Governor gave a patient hearing to the DPCC delegation and assured them of necessary action.

Besides Shri Ajay Maken, other prominent members in the delegation included Shri Devender Yadav, ex-MLA, Municipal Councillor Ajit Yadav, district president Inderjit Singh, Jagdish Yadav and representatives of RWAs.

After meeting Dr Najeeb Jung, talking to reporters outside Raj Niwas, Shri Ajay Maken said the smouldering  Bhalswa  land fill has not only made the air in the area toxic and highly polluted, but the underground water in the area has also been contaminated. He said as a result, people of the area are living like in a hell. He said the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation were only trading charges and counter charges, as the contamination and pollution from the Bhalswa land fill were the results of the Delhi Govrnment and the Corporation not following the rules notified by the Union Environment Ministry for Municipal Solid Waste Management. He said the Central Government, the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporations should be made to follow these rules.

Shri Maken said according to the Municipal Solid Waste Management rules, 10cm of soil should be put on every dump of garbage every day, but this rule is neither being followed at the Bhalswa land fill site, nor in other land fill sites. Secondly, when the Master Plan of Delhi and the Zonal Plan were formulated, provision had been given to green the Bhalswa land fill site. But the Corporation has not taken any steps to green the area.

Shri Maken said the DPCC delegation told the Lt. Governor that steps should be taken to  turn the Bhalswa  land fill into a green area. He said immediate action should be taken to follow Central Government’s Solid Waste Management Rules at the land fills, instead of the Delhi Government and the Corporations using the issue like a football to trade charges to further spoil this important issue.

Shri Ajay Maken said that Dr Najeeb Jung assured the DPCC delegation that he would talk to  the  Environment Department of the DelhiGovernment as well as  the Municipal Commissioner and the Mayor about the matter, to find a satisfactory solution.