Delhi L-G V K Saxena, CM Rekha Gupta launch bamboo plantation drive at Okhla Landfill
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, along with Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, on Friday launched a bamboo plantation drive at Okhla Landfill Site that was reclaimed after biomining of legacy waste.
Highlighting the importance of the bamboo plantation drive, Saxena said that in the last three years, 1,70,000 bamboo saplings have been planted in Delhi.
The drive of turning landfill sites into green zones began in March, when L-G Saxena and Gupta, along with others, had planted bamboo saplings at the Bhalswa Landfill site.
'Today's bamboo plantation drive might seem like a small event but its importance is quite big.' Saxena said
Bamboo became the choice of plantation drive because it releases 30 per cent more oxygen than other plants, requires low maintenance and it grows fast in less water but the most important factor considered was that no permission is required for its cutting if the land is to be used for other purposes in the future.
'These plants will grow up to 20 feet in 8-9 months….Bamboo saplings planted at Bansera Park have attained a height of 40-42 feet in one and a half years,' Saxena said.
Around 8,000 bamboo saplings of two species — Bambusa tulda and Bambusa polymorpha — will be planted at Okhla Landfill. In between bamboo saplings, 8,000 lemongrass and vetiver saplings will also be planted. 'Their roots will help prevent soil erosion during heavy rains. Additionally, they block heavy metals from seeping into the groundwater and enhance oxygen levels in the air, improving the local environment,' the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said in its statement.
L-G stated that the agency conducting biomining work at the Okhla Landfill Site has indicated that the work will be completed by December at this site. However, it has been learned that the L-G has asked the agency to complete the work two months ahead of the deadline.
He said that during the previous government, 11 trommel machines were deployed at all three landfill sites, processing 6,000 tonnes of waste every day, but now the waste processing capacity has been increased to 25,000 tonnes per day.
The landfill site is now spread over an area of 62 acres. Earlier, it had a height of 60 meters, which has been reduced to 40 meters. 'The garbage mountain of 60 metric tonnes is reduced to 28 metric tonnes, which in itself is a praiseworthy deed. The previous government made a false promise to the citizens to remove these garbage mountains but in the end citizens removed that government…Now there is a functional government in Delhi, and the credit for which goes to the citizens of Delhi,' Gupta said.
Only 7,000 tonnes of waste is processed daily in Delhi as against the 11,000 tonnes of garbage generated. CM Gupta said that in order to deal with the 4,000 tonnes gap, the government is going to set up two new waste-to-energy plants and the capacity of the existing waste to energy plants is also going to be increased. 'The present capacity to process 7,000 tonnes of garbage per day will be increased to 15,000 tonnes per day so that no amount of garbage remains unprocessed,' Gupta said. She also announced the government's plans to introduce biogas plants in Delhi's 11 dairy colonies.
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