• Faces the uphill task of clearing mounds of garbage

Consolidating its position in the Capital with a ‘double engine’, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday secured its maiden victory in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, though barely, with 134 of the 250 wards falling in its kitty. The BJP put up a spirited fight, bagging 104 seats despite the anti-incumbency of three terms, while the Congress was reduced to nine seats and Independents won three seats. This was the first election after the MCD’s reunification earlier this year. The verdict shows that the public was fed up with the corruption-ridden and non-performing local body over civic issues such as sanitation, cleanliness, maintenance of parks and roads. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal now has the onerous task of resolving these vexing problems.

The foremost challenge confronting him relates to waste management. Delhi has three mountains of waste — in Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla — oozing polluted water and toxic gases. A byproduct, methane gas, renders the dump yards inflammable, leading to frequent fires. Despite the National Green Tribunal’s orders for biomining (separating discarded plastic, paper, cloth, sand, bricks etc. by passing them through a trommel) the waste dumps, umpteen extensions of deadlines to flatten the landfills and crores of rupees spent, these sites have only grown vertically in the past couple of decades.

What makes matters worse is that the garbage sites that were initially on the outskirts of the city have become eyesores in the middle of residential areas as the National Capital Region has expanded, with newer townships coming up over the years. All this has had a devastating effect on the people’s health as they are left struggling with increasing respiratory, skin and other ailments. With both the Congress and BJP at the helm of MCD affairs during their long tenures having failed to come up with effective waste management solutions, the AAP would, indeed, stand out if it can find a way out of this polluting mess. The key lies in promoting the philosophy of waste reduction, reuse and recycle, as also waste segregation at source and household levels.

(Tribune, India)