New Delhi Vows to Flatten Monster Garbage Pile in Indian Capital

New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File
New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File
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New Delhi Vows to Flatten Monster Garbage Pile in Indian Capital

New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File
New Delhi says it plans to level the massive Bhalswa landfill by March 2026. Prakash SINGH / AFP/File

India's capital New Delhi has vowed to clear one of its largest trash piles by next year as part of a plan to eradicate unsightly landfills dotting the megacity's skyline.

Around 32 million people live in greater Delhi, where a slipshod approach to waste management has left numerous landfills with garbage piled up to 60 meters (200 feet) high and visible from miles away.

Regular spot fires during the capital's long and intense summer see the trash mounds turn into toxic conflagrations spilling dangerous chemical fumes into nearby neighborhoods, reported AFP.

Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters Tuesday that work was underway to process and dispose of waste at one of the city's biggest trash piles.

By the end of the year, waste at the Bhalswa dump on the city's northern outskirts "will be reduced to a point where it will no longer be visible" from a distance, he said.

"Our ultimate aim is to ensure that no new garbage mountains are formed," he added.

Local neighborhoods around the Bhalswa landfill are home to thousands of Delhi's poorest residents who have migrated from grinding rural poverty in search of work.

Sirsa said the Bhalswa site would be cleared by March next year with similar remediation work to follow at Delhi's other two main garbage dumps.

According to last reported estimates from 2023, Delhi generates more than 11,000 tons of solid waste each day, according to official estimates in 2023.

More than four million tons of waste sit at the Bhalswa dump according to official estimates.

Untreated domestic waste burns in the landfills during the hot summer months, producing excess methane which further pollutes India's already smog-choked urban centers.



Elderly Man Dies as Wildfires Rage in Türkiye, Forcing Evacuations and Road Closures

A drone view shows burnt trees and destroyed houses in the aftermath of a wildfire in Seferihisar near Izmir, Türkiye, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Ufuk Erdem
A drone view shows burnt trees and destroyed houses in the aftermath of a wildfire in Seferihisar near Izmir, Türkiye, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Ufuk Erdem
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Elderly Man Dies as Wildfires Rage in Türkiye, Forcing Evacuations and Road Closures

A drone view shows burnt trees and destroyed houses in the aftermath of a wildfire in Seferihisar near Izmir, Türkiye, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Ufuk Erdem
A drone view shows burnt trees and destroyed houses in the aftermath of a wildfire in Seferihisar near Izmir, Türkiye, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Ufuk Erdem

Firefighters on Thursday discovered the body of an elderly man after extinguishing a wildfire near a village in western Türkiye, while crews elsewhere continued to battle another blaze that closed a highway and forced some residents to be evacuated from their homes.

The 81-year-old-man died from smoke inhalation in a village near the town of Odemis, Suleyman Elban, the governor for Izmir province, said. His death marks the first fatality in a series of wildfires across the country that have forced thousands to flee.

A total of 37 other villagers were safely evacuated by security forces and emergency teams, Elban said, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters, supported by aircraft and helicopters, were deployed to extinguish a wildfire blazing in the Aegean coastal town of Cesme, a tourism hotspot some 192 kilometers (120 miles) west of Odemis.

That wildfire, which began on Wednesday, forced the evacuation of three neighborhoods and closed roads. Television footage of the blaze showed flames burning through dried vegetation on both sides of a road.

Elban said the wildfires in Izmir province are believed to have been sparked by electrical lines, which ignited dry grass and spread rapidly due to wind.

In the past week, Türkiye has battled hundreds of fires across the country that were fueled by fierce winds, scorching heat and low humidity.

The fires — most of which were brought under control — damaged or destroyed around 200 homes, the majority in İzmir, the Interior Ministry said. Dozens of barns were also destroyed.

As firefighting crews battled the blazes, Türkiye's parliament adopted the country’s first climate law late Wednesday, in a move aimed at reaching net-zero emissions by 2053.

The legislation includes measures to establish a carbon market board to oversee efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emission. It also imposes fines on companies that fail to comply with the requirements.

The U.K.-based environmental advocacy group ClientEarth on Thursday welcomed the law’s symbolic importance but said it has several shortcomings.

“The law lacks ambitious, science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the medium-term and offers no commitment to phasing out fossil fuels,” the group said.