New Delhi, Jul 11 (PTI) The Delhi Ridge Management Board (RMB) has declined a proposal of the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to dump inert civic waste in the abandoned Bhatti mines, which now are part of the Asola wildlife sanctuary, officials said on Monday.
The move comes close on the heels of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena issuing directions to prepare a plan to develop 14 abandoned mine pits into reservoirs to collect rain, flood and storm water, recharge groundwater and turn the area into a world-class eco-tourism destination.
The erstwhile SDMC had in 2020 moved a proposal to use four 30-metre-deep pits measuring 477 acres for dumping of inert waste as it had run out of space to store millions of tonnes of inert materials generated from biomining of legacy waste in landfills of the city.
The pits came about during mining operations at Bhatti mines, spread over 2,166 acres. The mining stopped around 35 years ago, and the city government notified the mines as a wildlife sanctuary in 1991.
The pits have over the decades become an ecologically sensitive water recharge zone and a habitat for a variety of flora and fauna, including leopards.
The Ridge Management Board, a high-powered body mandated to protect the Delhi Ridge, considered the lungs of the capital, had set up a five-member panel in March last year to examine the proposal.
At a meeting held on July 29 last year, the panel had suggested that a study be conducted on the likely impact of dumping of inert materials on the flora and fauna of the region.
“The RMB discussed the proposal in a meeting in June and decided to decline it. The minutes of the meeting are yet to be issued,” a senior official said, without divulging more information.
The Wildlife Institute of India will conduct a study on the enrichment of biodiversity in the pits, he said.
According to the officials, the pits are home to threatened species, including a family of leopards. Their nature has completely changed since 1994. A wide range of animals and plant species are found in and around these mine pits.
In 1994 too, the MCD had requested the city government to allow it to use the Bhatti mines for development of solid waste management facilities.
The forest department and the National Green Tribunal had rejected that demand.
According to the directions issued by the NGT in 2019, the municipal corporations are undertaking biomining of legacy waste at the Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfill sites which is expected to generate 200 lakh metric tonnes of inert waste.
Biomining separates waste into four categories — construction and demolition waste, metals, plastic and rags, and soil and pebbles.
While other components are sent to recycling units, soil needs to be dumped elsewhere. PTI GVS IJT
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