Delhi Municipal Corporation clears 18,495 tonnes of waste from railway tracks

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has removed 18,495 metric tonnes of waste from railway tracks across the capital in a large-scale sanitation drive. Working with railway authorities, the operation cleaned 49.74 km of the network, which is nearly half of the city’s total track length of 102.9 km. The effort focused on 123 locations where rubbish had built up over years of unregulated dumping by nearby settlements and businesses.

A senior official stated that the indiscriminate dumping of waste had become a major concern, prompting the need for the clean-up. Authorities had estimated that between 18,000 and 20,000 metric tonnes of waste had accumulated at the identified sites, requiring immediate action.

The largest volumes of waste came from the Karol Bagh and Keshavpuram municipal zones, which together accounted for around 4,100 metric tonnes of the total. The Keshavpuram zone was home to a significant legacy waste site near Azadpur Railway Station, which has now been completely cleared and made into a usable public space.

To prevent waste from accumulating again, the MCD has installed 61 twin dustbins along sections of the railway corridor. Awareness campaigns have also been launched to discourage open dumping and to encourage proper disposal practices among residents.