Sisodia aims at BJP, says there’s a dangerous plan for 16 landfill sites in Delhi

A MCD spokesperson responded to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s claim with a one-line rebuttal. “MCD has no proposal to setup 16 new dumpsites and no land has been identified for this purpose”.

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has made sanitation in the national Capital the centrepiece of its campaign for municipal elections, on Thursday said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was planning to create 16 landfill sites across the city and that these will be dangerous for the city’s residents.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said only Arvind Kejriwal had the plan to fix the problem around Delhi’s landfill sites. (PTI)

“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done nothing to fix the existing landfill sites and wants to create 16 more landfill sites,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said at a media briefing on Thursday, adding that he received information about the move from the muncipal corporation.

“If their plans succeed it will be dangerous for the people of Delhi and they will have to face foul smell and garbage,” Sisodia said. The three existing landfill sites are an example of the work done by the BJP which has ruled the MCD for 17 years, Sisodia said.

To be sure, the MCD has rebutted the deputy chief minister’s claim. “MCD has no proposal to setup 16 new dumpsites and no land has been identified for this purpose,” a MCD spokesperson said.

Delhi’s three municipal corporations were merged into a single body on May 22, coinciding with the end of the five-year term of the elected councillors. The unified civic body, among the largest in the world, is being run by a bureaucrat appointed by the Union home ministry.

Elections to the unified municipal corporation’s 250 seats are expected to be notified in December this year.

On Tuesday, the commission appointed to rework the boundary of the existing 272 wards to bring down their number to 250 put out its draft report and sought public comments. The commission is expected to finalise the wards by November.

The release of the report coincided with Sisodia’s party announcing a month-long campaign around the alleged lack of sanitation across the city. “The AAP will expose the reality of BJP-ruled MCD’s garbage mountains before the public… BJP will have to either clear garbage or pack its bags and leave Delhi and MCD forever,” Rai told reporters on Tuesday. The following day, AAP lawmaker Atishi led a protest near the Ghazipur landfill site.

Delhi’s three landfill sites – Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur -- have far exceeded their capacity and turned into mountains of garbage. The landfill site at Bhalswa, the last one to be commissioned in 1994 is already 62 metres high

Sisodia said only AAP chief and the city’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had the plan to fix the landfill site and appealed to people to give an opportunity to AAP in the MCD elections.

AAP has been in power in Delhi for seven years but has not been able to convince the city residents to give the party a shot in the civic body elections. Since 2017, AAP has been the main opposition party in Delhi’s three municipal bodies.