At plantation drive, Delhi govt sets ’26 target to flatten Bhalswa mound

CM said biomining at all three landfill sites will be expedited and the height of waste brought down, even as environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa promised to flatten the Bhalswa mound by March 2026

New Delhi

LG VK Saxena and CM Rekha Gupta at the plantation drive. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena and chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday kicked off the process of transforming a five-acre area of reclaimed land at the Bhalswa dump yard into a bamboo park, which is proposed through the plantation of over 54,000 saplings over the next month. Speaking on the occasion, the CM said biomining at all three landfill sites will be expedited and the height of waste brought down, even as environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa promised to flatten the Bhalswa mound by March 2026.

CM Gupta said that within a year, the government will ensure that the height of the landfill is reduced and green land is developed so that projects can be started.

“The double engine government is working on double speed and our target is to ensure a clean Delhi. LG looked after this project for the last few months with great effort...The work being done and the targets that have been set, the central government has big role to play. The materials removed from this site are being used in several projects of the NHAI and levelling of DDA grounds. We will carry out observations on a monthly basis, and we will visit all three landfill sites,” Gupta said.

She likened the lieutenant governor’s role in Delhi to the massive “rock at Kedarnath” that protected the temple from flash flood devastation in 2013.

LG Saxena said the plantation commenced after two years of dedicated efforts to reclaim the land by biomining. “Two thousand bamboo saplings have been planted on the reclaimed five-acre land and in the coming one to one-and-a-half months, a total of 54,000 bamboo saplings will be planted here.”

Minister Sirsa said the Bhalswa landfill was spread over 70 acres, of which 35% has been now cleared (through biomining). “Its 35% area has been completely flattened. Our target is to clear the land completely by March 2026..”

To be sure, the official deadline submitted to the authorities for clearing the three landfill sites is December 2028.

Sumit Dookia, a wildlife biologist and associate professor at Delhi’s Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University said that since the landfill soil is highly degraded these plants require intensive care from agencies. “They should also ensure that the only bamboo species — Dendrocalamus strictus — which is native to NCR should be preferred over other species.”