From mountain to molehill

The countdown has begun! No, it’s not for the discount offer at your favourite shop. Nor is it for Diwali or Christmas, New Year. But, it’s the countdown for processing the 28 million tonnes of waste accumulated at the overused Bhalswa, Ghazipur, and Okhla landfills.

In 2002, the Ghazipur landfill, along with Bhalswa and Okhla, crossed the 20 metres safety limit. In fact, in 2017, two people died after a section of the precarious mountain of waste — spread over the area of 40 football fields, and over 65 metres tall — collapsed.

In 1996, when the Okhla landfill site was commissioned as a dumping ground, Satyawati Sharma, then a 63-year-old, (now 86-year-old) used to commute to her friend’s house via that road. As the years went by, the piles kept on mounting to the extent that one could call it the Himalayas of dirt.

“I remember, earlier it was the size of a molehill, now it is a mountain of molehills. I used to commute to my best friend’s house via Okhla road and I knew it, one day it will be as big as Qutub Minar. I’ve seen people dying because of the toxic gases released by the tonnes of waste. I truly hope that the processing waste in landfills will lead to the betterment of the society,” shares Satyawati Sharma.    

Vineet Khokhar, a 27-year-old, shares, “Landfills like Gazipur and Bhalswa have polluted our environment a lot. The height and weight of their waste indicates how much waste we as human are producing, and this is not good for our generation and our future generation.”   

“These landfills have already destroyed most of our environment, our health, and our lives. I really hope the processing of waste for these happens successfully, so that our future generation can live their lives peacefully,” shares Shruti Sharma.