India's Landfill Cleanup Drive: Khattar Unveils ₹3,000 Crore Mission to Clear 245 Legacy Waste Sites

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New Delhi: Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has launched the Dumpsite Remediation Accelerator Programme (DRAP) to accelerate the cleanup of India's 245 legacy waste dump sites, including 214 high-load locations that account for nearly 80% of the remaining legacy waste. This mission-mode initiative aims to expedite the clearance of these sites within a tight timeline, with a budget of ₹3,000 crore. In a significant development, Delhi's Bhalswa landfill has shown early progress under Khattar's monitoring. Since adopting the site on September 17, 4.79 lakh tonnes of waste have been remediated, with a projected clearance of 40 lakh cubic metres of waste by October 2026, unlocking nearly 70 acres of urban land. To achieve this ambitious goal, Khattar has urged local authorities to 'adopt' dump sites in their jurisdictions and tap into Corporate Social Responsibility funds, private organisations, and state agencies for support. The DRAP programme will run on a 5P framework, focusing on political leadership, public finance, public advocacy, project management, and partnerships. Cities will be required to prepare micro-action plans, with progress monitored in real-time through the DRAP portal. Larger dump sites, such as Ghazipur and Bhalswa in Delhi, and Deonar in Mumbai, will receive priority attention due to their scale and local constraints. Alongside DRAP, the ministry has rolled out the Urban Investment Window (UWIN), a new mechanism to help states and city corporations access larger and faster capital for urban infrastructure. This platform, operated by HUDCO, will guide cities from project identification to investment facilitation, addressing the estimated ₹70,000 crore requirement for urban development till 2047.