Overshadowed by Waste: Living Adjacent to Delhi's Okhla Landfill

New Delhi: It has been more than a year now since then chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor of Delhi V.K. Saxena inaugurated a sanitary, engineered landfill in Tehkhand Okhla on March 12, 2024. In a social media post announcing the inauguration, Kejriwal called it “a significant step towards sustainable waste management and environmental conservation”. The engineered landfill is now operational and running. While the lives of those living near the landfill have improved slightly, their living conditions still leave much to be desired. The efficacy of the engineered landfill also remains unknown.

There are three main landfill sites in Delhi: Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa. As per a press release issued by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), it has not authorised any of these three sites. However, municipal bodies have informed the DPCC that they have no option but to use these sites to dispose of municipal solid waste, as land is unavailable in Delhi. They also claim that a request has been made to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to allot land for landfill sites, but to no avail. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation and North Delhi Municipal Corporation have stated that these landfill sites are being continued at the risk of human life.

Additionally, Delhi also has three Waste to Energy (WtE) plants: Timarpur-Okhla WtE plant, Ghazipur WtE plant and Narela WtE plant. However, an investigative report by The New York Times cites the WtE plants as a cause of several pollutants. The locals in Okhla and Bawana have previously protested the opening of these plants but to no avail.

The engineered landfill has come up as a poignant solution to the problem of ash generated upon processing in a WtE plant. A landfill is a carefully constructed site wherein inert, unprocessable waste is discarded. However, the three ‘landfill sites’ in Delhi operate as unmethodical sites where all municipal solid waste is dumped. In a video posted by the Aam Aadmi party, Durgesh Pathak, the former incharge of MCD has explained the working of the engineered landfill, which offers systemic treatment of waste, in a way that minimises environmental impact. The engineered site has a five-layer membrane, which prevents the contamination of land. The ash generated from WtE plants is dumped at the site, and pressed. The ash is then covered with a layer of dirt and soil. Further, the engineered site has pipes which collect contaminated rainwater and transfer it to a ‘leachate treatment plant’. This prevents groundwater from being contaminated. Once the engineered landfill is at capacity, Pathak claims, the site will be suitable for use, as a recreational park or a land for further development.

The Okhla landfill. Photo: Himanshi Aggarwal

Kalaam is a 32-year-old migrant worker from Bihar. He owns a tyre repair shop and sits right outside the Okhla landfill. He claims to have watched the landfill transform from a dense jungle to a cement factory and then to the garbage dump it has now become. He affirms the positive effects of the engineered landfill and WtE plants built close to the landfill.

“As far as I can tell, the garbage dump has become smaller, even though the trucks seem to be bringing in more waste. I hear that the plant processes the waste into electricity. There used to be a lot of smoke earlier, but that has also decreased since the new (engineered landfill) development.” Kalaam is hopeful but says he fears for the residents of VP Singh Camp, the actual stakeholders of the landfill’s toxins.

Living in the VP Singh Camp

VP Singh Camp, named after former prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh, is a resettlement colony in Tughlakabad, Delhi. According to the Delhi Shelter Board website, VP Singh Camp is registered as a Jhugi-Jhopdi Cluster (JJC) in Ward 197 of South Delhi. It has over 1,709 households, across an area of 38,500 square metres. The lanes are narrow, and the place has a strong stench due to its proximity to the Okhla landfill.

Narrow lanes in the VP Singh camp. Photo: Himanshi Aggarwal

Rajnish Singh Das, a 50-year-old man who works as a priest at a mandir on the outskirts of the JJC, claims to have watched the landfill become its present size. “It grows bigger every year. All parties reassure us that they will clear out the area, but to no effect.”

He speaks of the foul odour that plagues the area, “The stink is persistent in this area, but we have gotten accustomed to it. It is especially terrible during the monsoon because the rain causes the waste to roll onto the roads. Dark, visibly contaminated water gets logged on the roads, and the entire place reeks terribly.”

Talking about the engineered landfill and the WtE plant, he says, “Earlier, a lot of ash and fumes used to rise from the plant, but that has decreased in the past year. It might not be much, but at least there is less solid ash now.”

Water crisis

The primary problem faced by the residents of the VP Singh camp is the dearth of clean water. The groundwater is pale yellow and has a distinct smell. Bindu, Rajnish Das’s wife, tells The Wire, “The water here is not drinkable. We only use it for cleaning and washing. But washing clothes with this water leads to them losing their colour and turning yellow.” With no clean water supply and no means to purify the contaminated water, most residents of the area resort to buying bottled water for consumption.

The contaminated water, collected in buckets and in water bottles. Photo: Himanshi Aggarwal

“Everything you consider pleasant weather only results in hardships for us. As the wind blows, so does dirt and light waste from the landfill, such as poly bags. When the rain falls, so does the garbage,” says Shyam Yadav, the owner of a dhaba on the outskirts of the colony. He talks about buying bottled water to cook the food served at the dhaba. “The water quality here is so bad, even animals wouldn’t want to consume it – it is unappealing to look at, smell and taste. It cannot be used even to rinse vegetables. I spend about Rs 100-200 on water bottles each day.” Yadav alleges that the groundwater does not even allow for detergents to lather. “Sometimes we use bottled water to let soap lather and then rinse with the groundwater.”

“The pale yellow colour of the water is possibly due to the landfill leachate seeping into the groundwater,” explains Bhawana Tanwar, the executive director of There is No Earth B, an NGO working towards climate action. Soluble components from the waste dissolve into the rainwater that falls onto the landfill. This contaminated water, called ‘liquid leachate’, causes groundwater to become contaminated. “The usability of the water can only be understood upon studying the microbacterial contaminants, dissolved metals, dissolved oxygen pH value and other impurities present in the water.”

Lack of sanitary washrooms

To further exacerbate the perils of the colony, there are only two community toilet complexes in the area. As per the data on the Delhi Shelter Board website, the region only has one toilet complex, the status of which is given as “repair required”.

The community toilet complex with broken doors and latches. Photo: Himanshi Aggarwal

Nandini (11) is one of the many young children growing up in the shadows of the towering landfill. “My house does not have a washroom, so we rely on the community toilets, which also close by 11 pm. I avoid going to the washroom too late, but if there’s no other choice, I go to the mountain (landfill).”

Several people confessed to open defecation, either near the landfill site or in the jungles surrounding the area.

“We walk long distances just to use the washroom. It is scary to do so after sunset because many local men are often under the influence by then. It is common to be harassed,” says Vineeta, a resident.

“Some people have built personal washrooms in their houses now, but most of us rely on the community toilets,” says Mintra Thakur, a 35-year-old woman who lives in a rented single-room house in the colony. “If we need to go at night, we either ask the neighbours or find other means,” says the single mother. Mintra says that the children in the colony frequently fall ill, owing to the subpar living conditions.

Health impact

“A large majority of my family income goes into hospital bills. You can hear it in my voice: the allergens due to the landfill have led me to have persistent coughs and a sore throat,” says Kamlesh, a woman in her mid-50s. She talks about how residents cover their faces while walking, but one can only mask up for so many hours. “Using this water to bathe also causes our hair to become dry and rough.”

Dr S.K. Shaha is an Ayurvedic medicine doctor who has a clinic in the camp. He talks about the common ailments in the area: “I often get patients with persistent coughs and difficulty breathing. Bathing with the contaminated groundwater also leads to several common skin ailments, such as eczema.” He also talks about infectious diseases caused due to poor living conditions: “The waste attracts houseflies, which are known vectors of diseases. Hygiene is a luxury the locals don’t have.”

A drain flows through the camp, adjacent to houses. Photo: Himanshi Aggarwal

Multiple studies cited by the National Institute of Health (NIH) have shown that people living close to landfills have a greater chance of facing illnesses such as asthma, cuts, diarrhoea, stomach pain, recurring flu, cholera, malaria, cough, skin irritation, diarrhoea and tuberculosis.

Unsegregated waste

Tribhuwan Singh Bisht, Deputy Programme Manager at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), emphasised the misclassification of Delhi’s dumpsites as landfills. He says, "These sites are uncontrolled garbage dumps lacking the environmental safeguards expected of a scientifically designed waste management facility."

Sanitary landfills are engineered to receive only that fraction of waste which is non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, and non-combustible. They include provisions for leachate management, gas capture, and pollution control.

Bisht adds "WtE plants are designed to process high-calorific-value dry waste mostly non-recyclable waste. However, due to poor source segregation, these plants receive mixed waste. This significantly reduces thermal efficiency, leads to higher pollutant emissions, and increases the volume of incineration residues."

While the MCD has adopted vehicles with dual compartments to encourage source segregation, the overall effectiveness remains low due to poor public participation.

Bisht highlights the importance of the Tehkhand monofill as an engineered facility specifically designed for the safe disposal of Incineration Bottom Ash generated from WtE plants. "The monofill includes impermeable liners, leachate collection systems, and environmental barriers to prevent contamination of soil and groundwater. It marks a critical shift from indiscriminate dumping to scientifically managed disposal."

Himanshi Aggarwal is an independent journalist.

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