New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday said the government was exploring the possibility of hiring an additional agency to expedite the waste processing and asserted the city’s garbage mounds would “disappear just like dinosaurs” in the next five years.  Inspecting the Ghazipur landfill site in east Delhi, he said the government was working on a war footing to clear the legacy waste and free the city from its piles of garbage that have accumulated over the years, resembling hills.

“I want to offer my commitment that the garbage mountains in Delhi will disappear just like dinosaurs,” he told reporters.

The minister said that of the 80 lakh metric tonnes of waste at the site, 14-15 lakh tonnes have already been processed. The pace of biomining has picked up, and about 7,000-8,000 metric tonnes of waste will be processed daily over the next six months.

However, it will still take at least five to six years to remove the waste already lying at the site, Sirsa said.

The Delhi government is also exploring the possibility of hiring an additional agency to expedite the waste processing work, the environment minister said.

“If we engage another agency and carry out parallel work…the task can be completed faster,” he said.

He also stressed monitoring the progress of the work and said, “The CM’s office and our department will monitor all dumps and landfills continuously.” In the future, every vehicle entering Delhi will be monitored, and every construction site over 500 square meters will be under surveillance, he highlighted.

All data will be uploaded daily to a government dashboard, including pollution levels and waste removal statistics, and those who fail to meet deadlines will face penalties, he asserted. PTI NSM VIT AMJ NSM AMJ AMJ