Urban Development Minister Ashish Sood on Friday directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to increase biomining capacity at the Ghazipur landfill from 7,000 metric tons per day (TPD) to 12,000 TPD by July 31 to meet the December 2027 deadline for clearing the waste at the Capital’s oldest garbage dump.

Mr. Sood issued the directions while inspecting the 70-acre landfill. “The people of Delhi deserve permanent solutions, not temporary measures. Today, we have identified the major bottlenecks, fixed timelines for resolving them and issued clear directions to accelerate biomining,” he said. The government’s objective is not merely to reduce the height of the landfill but to “permanently eliminate Delhi’s legacy waste challenge through scientific and time-bound remediation”, said the Minister.

He added that the Ghazipur remediation project will now be reviewed every week, and he will revisit the landfill next month to assess progress on the directions issued during the inspection.

Reviewing the project’s progress, he said Phase I, carried out between November 2022 and November 2024, had achieved biomining of only 13.9 lakh metric tons against the contracted target of 30 lakh metric tons. The government has set a target of clearing the remaining waste by December 2027.

Submit action plan 

Mr. Sood ordered officials to ensure fresh municipal waste is processed separately from legacy waste to prevent further accumulation at the site. He asked the MCD to submit a two-month action plan for fresh waste management. According to a statement, around 2,400-2,500 metric tons of fresh waste reach the Ghazipur landfill every day from Shahdara North and Shahdara South zones. While a large portion is diverted to the waste-to-energy plant, nearly 800 metric tons continue to be dumped at the site daily.

As per an April 2026 drone survey, Ghazipur landfill contained 67.81 lakh metric tons of waste. Between April 30 and June 25, around 3.39 lakh metric tons were processed, bringing the total waste at the site to 66.68 lakh metric tons, including both fresh and legacy waste. The Minister directed the civic body to deploy more vehicles to transport inert material generated during biomining after officials informed him that disposal arrangements had been made at the NTPC Eco Park, around 23 km away. A compliance report has been sought within a week.

Officials said nearly 24 lakh metric tons of legacy waste have been processed under the ongoing Phase II of the project, with about 20 acres of land reclaimed so far. The second phase, awarded in March 2025, aims to biomine 30 lakh metric tons of waste by September 2026.