Overburdened Dhapa on brink of collapse, KMC sends SOS to govt for new landfill
Times of India | 29 March 2025
12 Kolkata: Dhapa is creaking under the weight of garbage. Created with a holding capacity of 2,500 tonnes of solid municipal waste from Kolkata per day, the facility is now struggling to accommodate 5,000 tonnes of garbage daily. Alarmed by the situation, Kolkata Municipal Corporation has written to Nabanna, warning of a far bigger catastrophe than what occurred in Howrah's Belgachhia, where a waste subsidence last week damaged the city's main water pipeline as well as several houses.
Kolkata civic officials say the overburdened Dhapa dumping ground, too, is on the verge of a collapse. In its SOS to the state secretariat, the civic authorities have sought funds to urgently acquire a 73-hectare plot adjacent to the garbage dump site to develop a scientific landfill. The funds are required to pay compensation to farmers who use the land.
Besides receiving 4,500 tonnes of waste from 144 KMC wards, Dhapa gets 500 tonnes from Salt Lake, New Town, and Panihati. Warning bells started ringing after KMC was told to take an additional 300 tonnes from Howrah. "We prepared a report on the vulnerability of Dhapa and sent it to the state govt, making it clear that a disaster is waiting to happen if we waste time in the acquisition of land and construction of the new landfill," said a KMC official.
Worse, the extraction of legacy waste (waste accumulated over a long period of time, often forming hills) has come to a halt as the private agency engaged in 2020 for the work was terminated after it missed its 2023 deadline. Out of 40 lakh tonnes of legacy waste, only 15 lakh tonnes have been extracted so far.
The need for an alternative landfill site was felt after a survey revealed that Kolkata's only waste dumping site was unable to take the burden of growing waste and those coming from the neighbouring municipalities, a KMC official said.
Kolkata currently produces about 4,500 tonnes of waste every day that is transported to the dumping ground in 500 trucks and garbage compactor machines.
"The 60-acre Dhapa dumping ground that started operations in 1987, has long outlived its utility. It was built to accommodate the city's waste for the next 15-20 years. We need alternative land immediately," said an engineer who has been looking after the site for several years.
Civic officials say they have acquired a 20-acre land in Rajarhat where a construction and demolition waste recovery plant has been built. "We can use the rest of the land to construct a landfill site," he said.
The KMC solid waste management department woke up to the danger posed by deep-seated fire smouldering at the Dhapa landfill in 2019 when a fire there continued for five days. "We are aware of the lurking danger but are at a loss over how to tackle fire fuelled by methane gas generated from the decomposing garbage. Tackling a fire in a landfill that is still in operation is extremely challenging because it can't be opened up. The other way is to inject tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide into the mound, but this is extremely expensive. We spray water to smother the smoke and prevent the spread of particulate matter," the official said.
"We need to keep Dhapa operational till two other waste sites come up. But we need to keep a constant vigil on pollution levels at Dhapa and take immediate measures to curb it," said a KMC solid waste management department official.
Stay updated with the latest city news, Air Quality Index (AQI), and weather updates for major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, and Bangalore on Times of India.