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. 

Power Minister Ashish Sood on Saturday said that despite a 31% rise in power procurement costs due to a surge in global fuel prices, consumers in the Capital receiving subsidised electricity will remain almost “completely insulated” and face no impact on their bills.

Addressing concerns over the Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) revision, Mr. Sood said the government will ensure the burden of rising energy costs does not fall disproportionately on the people. “Consumers receiving electricity subsidies from the Delhi government will remain completely insulated from the impact. Even though power procurement costs rose by 31%, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has allowed only an average increase of 2.4% in PPAC. Earlier, the PPAC had been capped at 14.5% till March 31,” the Minister said, adding that with the latest revision, it now stands at approximately 17.5-17.9%.

Mr. Sood said the adjustment had become necessary due to an unprecedented rise in global fuel prices triggered by the ongoing West Asia crisis. The Minister said the PPAC is a statutory mechanism provided under the country’s electricity laws and not a new arrangement.

“The provision enables electricity distribution companies to adjust for fluctuations in fuel and power procurement costs on a monthly basis,” he said. Mr. Sood said the latest DERC order strikes a careful balance between maintaining the financial viability of power distribution companies and safeguarding consumer interests.

No reason to worry

Claiming that attempts are being made to create confusion and unnecessary apprehensions among the public, Mr. Sood said, “I want to categorically state that all consumers receiving government electricity subsidies will face absolutely no impact on their electricity bills due to this regulatory adjustment. There is no reason for subsidised consumers to worry.”

The Minister said the government will closely monitor the situation. Power regulator DERC on Friday allowed Delhi’s power distribution companies to recover a higher fuel and power purchase adjustment surcharge from consumers amid the rising electricity purchase costs.

Home Minister Ashish Sood on Sunday blamed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for failing to strengthen the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), saying the Rekha Gupta-led government is now paying the price for a decade of “inaction and apathy”.

Mr. Sood, who is also the Education Minister, said around 25.7% of posts in the DFS’s operational and firefighting wing remain vacant because of the AAP government’s failure to fill them.

“The AAP government did not do anything to improve the DFS and we are suffering because of that now. Our government is in the process of filling these vacancies and modernising the DFS,” he said.

Mr. Sood said 853 of the 3,312 sanctioned posts in the operational and firefighting wing were vacant while 43 of the 132 sanctioned posts in the communication wing were vacant as of February 28.

Overall, 1,030 of the DFS’s 3,633 sanctioned posts across categories were vacant till February 28, he added