Waste-to-energy unit inaugurated at Ghazipur market

Arvind Kejriwal was accompanied by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and environment minister Gopal Rai at the inauguration event.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday inaugurated a power plant in east Delhi’s Ghazipur in which 15 tonnes of waste generated every day at the wholesale agriculture and livestock market can be processed to produce 1,500 units of electricity.

The power plant inaugurated on Tuesday is located near the poultry market in Ghazipur. (Bloomberg)

Kejriwal said, “The waste-to-power (WTP) plant is starting today. The waste generated from this mandi will be processed to convert organic waste into electricity. Delhi is the national capital of the country, and so it should be clean to be regarded as a national capital. But there are waste dumps all across, and there are three waste mountains in Delhi.”

Several waste-to-power plants are needed across the city, he said. “This is a small plant that will combust only 15 tonnes of waste to produce 1,500 units of electricity. Many such small plants should be established across Delhi.”

“With an existing big waste-to-power plant and the establishment of hundreds of such small plants, waste should no longer be dumped on these garbage mountains. This waste should be recycled to generate electricity or be used in brick kilns. It is only through this judicious recycling that Delhi can prosper, or these mountains will keep on increasing. The starting of this plant is a step in this direction,” he said.

Kejriwal was accompanied by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and environment minister Gopal Rai at the inauguration event.

The Delhi government, senior officials said, plans similar plants at the Okhla and Azadpur markets too by next year as part of an initiative to modernise the city’s wholesale agriculture and livestock markets and to ensure that the height of the landfills in Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa remain under check.

The power plant inaugurated on Tuesday is located near the poultry market in Ghazipur.

Another waste-to-power plant operated by the east Delhi municipal corporation in the vicinity combusts garbage from the landfill in Ghazipur.