Delhi’s oldest landfill that is the Ghazipur landfill on Friday collapsed due to excessive weight of garbage, it was holding this weight for 3 decades. The disaster killed 2 people. The Ghazipur landfill was allotted in 1984 and occupies a total area of 71 acres, generally the permissible height of landfills in Delhi is 15 to 20 metres, while this landfill has exceeded the permissible height far before. It has been collecting approximately 14 million tonnes of trash, including household, plastic, construction and animal waste. The landfill has been a hazard for the people living around it as it reached the height of 45 metres and could have collapsed anytime. There are 4 landfills in Delhi, these are : Narela-Bawana landfill ; Ghazipur landfill ; Bhalswa landfill and Okhla landfill out of which Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills are exhausted, only the Narela-Bawana is the existing unexhausted landfill in Delhi which occupies 100 acres of land. 10,000 tonnes of garbage is generated everyday in Delhi. Delhi needs 28 sq.km. land for landfills by 2021.
