Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Chief Minister Rekha Gupta over the dumping of waste from the Bhalswa landfill on vacant Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land in Kirari, sharing a video on X that showed waterlogging in Sharma Colony and nearby areas caused by the accumulated garbage.
The AAP stated that while Bhalswa landfill waste was being shifted to Kirari, the government’s slogan “Koode ke pahaad, tujhe jaana padega”(the garbage mountains, you will have to go) hid the real fraud, as no one questioned where the waste would go. He added that the failure to ask this question allowed the garbage mountain to be diverted to Kirari under the Rekha Gupta government.
In a video message on X, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj held the BJP government responsible for the flooding of Sharma Colony and surrounding areas in the Kirari Assembly constituency due to drainage water. Questioning Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, he asked who had instructed the DDA to deploy thousands of trucks to transport garbage from the “Bhalswa landfill site” to Kirari.
The AAP Delhi Unit Chief further questioned who was bearing the cost of the trucks and JCB machines that are dumping garbage day and night on DDA land. “This garbage is polluting Kirari’s land and groundwater. Which environmental expert recommended this fraudulent technique?” he asked.
Saurabh Bharadwaj said that CM Rekha Gupta had earlier stated that every 15 days, one of her ministers visits the garbage mountain, stands there, and tells it, “Tereko jaana padega bhai” (You will have to go). He said that Rekha Gupta is a decent woman and had already given a hint. “At that time, people made a lot of fun of her for saying ‘you will have to go,’ but no one asked where it would have to go. The garbage was told to go to Kirari,” he said.
Saurabh Bharadwaj said that BJP ministers were making these claims every day, but no one realized what was actually happening. “We only realised the truth when now Kirari has been submerged in water; the Bhalswa garbage mountain was not being eliminated but was instead being removed from its original site and transported to Kirari.”
“Day and night, through thousands of trucks, the Bhalswa garbage mountain was being excavated and dumped inside Kirari, so that the Bhalswa garbage mountain would be reduced and a new garbage mountain could be created inside Kirari,” he said.
The AAP Delhi President said that the heap of garbage laid layer upon layer in Kirari is carcinogenic. “When plastic and all kinds of chemical-laden waste are spread in layers on the ground, how contaminated will the land become and how polluted will the groundwater be?” he asked.
“This is something to think about. In the future, when people settle there and install tube wells to use that water, they may suffer from diseases like cancer,” he said. He added that no environmental expert appears to have considered these consequences.
Questioning the decision-making process, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “How did the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) decide this, who took this decision, and under whose instructions it was done, is not clear.” He further said that this work is not being carried out free of cost, but that crores of rupees of government money are being spent.
He concluded by saying, “Day and night, trucks and JCB machines are filling garbage. No one asked where the garbage was going, so the fault lies with those who did not ask questions, not with Rekha Gupta.
