Thaindian News

By Shweta Srinivasan
New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) The capital’s newly elected mayor Kanwar Sain plans to move garbage dumps underground as part of his agenda for a clean Delhi.

The move, he feels, would not only remove the eyesores from public view but ensure hygienic garbage collection.

“I propose that all existing dhalaos (garbage dumps) be converted into underground ones. That way they will not be in the public eye. It will also be hygienic, as garbage will have to be inside the pit-structure for it to be collected. I have spoken to the commissioner on this - and we may implement something on these lines soon,” Sain told IANS.

Sain, a former Bharatiya Janata Party councillor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), was elected to the post of Delhi’s Mayor April 23.

Since then, he has been holding numerous discussions on how to make Delhi clean, especially in time for the Commonwealth Games scheduled for October 2010.

The MCD already uses mechanised cranes to collect garbage from the dumps. According to Sain, “instead of using the mechanism on ground, the garbage will be lifted out of the underground dump”.

Sain said he is also discussing the possibility of packaging garbage in recyclable material and compressing it for storing and disposal at a plant in Jaipur.

“Instead of dumping garbage at landfill sites, the idea of compressing and packaging garbage will be well suited for Delhi,” Sain stressed.

These proposals are likely to be finalised after elections, the mayor said.

Delhi struggles to dispose of the 6,000 tonnes of solid waste generated daily, despite 50,000 MCD sweepers and 700 garbage trucks to collect the garbage from 3,000 points across the city.

(Shweta Srinivasan can be contacted at shweta.s@ians.in)