New Delhi
The WtE plant at the Ghazipur landfill. (HT Archive)
Even as the deadline for clearing the waste mounds in the national capital looms large, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is grappling with maintenance issues with its Ghazipur Waste to Energy (WtE) plant, which remained shut for 108 of 275 days from April to December 2025.
In a report filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), MCD stated that the Ghazipur plant remained non-operational for almost three months, from September 12 to December 5, due to maintenance issues, chimney-related works and curbs under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap).
Data from the MCD shows that the plant has operated way below its operational efficiency and capacity of handling 1,300 tonnes of waste every day due to multiple shutdowns.
The MCD report dated December 30, 2025, states that the WtE plant at Ghazipur has a designed power generation capacity of 12MW (12,000 kW), from 1,300 TPD (tonnes per day) of waste. “That the WtE plant ordinarily operates on a round-the-clock basis… However, owing to operational exigencies such as variation in waste quality and the requirement of routine maintenance and cleaning of pressure parts, temporary shutdowns of the plant are sometimes necessitated,” the report read.
NGT is hearing a suo motu case on a report titled “ Major fire erupts at Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site, smoke engulfs region” published in these columns on April 21, 2024. The tribunal, in the last hearing, had directed the MCD to place on record details regarding the capacity utilisation of the WtE plant at Ghazipur.
The civic body has stated that apart from routine maintenance, an annual comprehensive maintenance shutdown of the WtE plant is undertaken every year. “For the year 2025, the annual maintenance shutdown commenced on 12.09.2025. During this major maintenance works including refractory lining works and chimney-related works were undertaken. Due to pollution-curb measures, delays were encountered in the transportation and receipt of essential materials required for execution of the said works,” the report read. The plant could not be recommissioned and the shutdown continued until December 5.
Even after the maintenance period, the waste intake has only increased to approximately 900 TPD against the capacity of 1300 TPD. The corporation has also stated that the plant has primary and auxiliary pits having a cumulative waste storage capacity of approximately 35,000 metric tonnes (MT).
A civic official said that upon receipt of municipal solid waste (MSW), the waste is initially stored in the primary pit of the plant for a retention period of approximately five days, which is necessary to reduce the moisture content of the waste through natural drainage of leachate.
“…the leachate generated during the retention process, approximately 25- 30 kilo litres per day (KLD), is collected and conveyed to the leachate pit of the WtE plant. The leachate is thereafter treated through a dedicated Leachate Treatment Plant (LTP) having a treatment capacity of 65 KLD, which is installed and operational within the WtE plant premises,” the report read.
The Ghazipur WtE plant has a history of problematic operations.
In 2022, a panel put together by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), ordering an enquiry against the concessionaire of the facility and asking civic bodies to consider temporarily diverting garbage from east Delhi and dumping it in the Okhla landfill, had found that the plant at the Ghazipur landfill site had been shut for more than seven months. The plant has reported repeated problems related to boiler operations, conveyor belt and has also evaded penalties for not meeting the pollution norms.
A senior MCD official said that the annual maintenance of the plant got delayed due to Grap related violations but the processing levels have increased after the maintenance but action will be taken if there were any lapses on part of plant operators. “We are also planning to set up a new waste to energy plant based on advanced technology at Ghazipur which will be able to handle 2,000 tonnes of waste every day. The plant is likely to be made operational by December 2027,” official added.