You smell Bhalswa before you see it. Even a few streets away, the air carries a sharp, chemical edge — the unmistakable signature of a landfill that has been burning, decomposing and growing for the better part of three decades. Our team went to see it up close, and to talk to the people who don't have the option of driving away afterward.
Locals don't mince words about what Bhalswa represents: years of civic assurances that were never followed through on. What was meant to be a temporary dumping ground has become one of the tallest structures in North-East Delhi — a mountain of waste that towers over the homes built in its shadow.
Living beside the mountain
Thousands of families live within a few hundred metres of the site. On the day of our visit, the air was thick enough to sting the eyes. Residents described a familiar routine: keeping windows shut through the worst of the fumes, children developing persistent coughs, and a general resignation that this is simply what life near Bhalswa means now.
Groundwater in the surrounding colonies runs the risk of contamination from leachate — the toxic liquid that seeps out of decomposing waste. Several residents told us they no longer trust the water from local sources, adding yet another burden to households already struggling with the air they breathe.
years since Bhalswa began operating as a landfill site
major landfills still active in Delhi despite closure orders
of families living in the immediate vicinity of the site
A citywide problem, not a local one
It's tempting to treat Bhalswa as a North-East Delhi issue — something for that part of the city to deal with. But every bag of waste that isn't segregated, recycled or processed elsewhere in Delhi eventually finds its way to landfills like this one. The mountain at Bhalswa is, in a very real sense, built by the whole city.
Every bag of unsegregated waste in this city ends up on someone's doorstep. In Bhalswa, it's not a metaphor. — DCG field team, Bhalswa site visit
What needs to happen
Delhi's waste management crisis will not be solved by moving the mountain — it needs to stop growing. That means investment in decentralised waste processing, enforceable segregation at source, and a serious timeline for bio-mining the legacy waste that's already there. Families living beside Bhalswa should not have to keep waiting for a plan that was promised years ago.
- Segregate at source: citywide enforcement of wet-dry waste separation to reduce what reaches landfills in the first place.
- Accelerate bio-mining: a funded, time-bound plan to process the legacy waste already piled at Bhalswa.
- Independent air and water monitoring: public, real-time data for the colonies living closest to the site.
We're publishing this report because the people living beside Bhalswa have been telling this story for years, largely unheard. Raise your voice, share what you've read here, and help us keep the pressure on until something actually changes.