Massive fire breaks out at Ghazipur landfill site; Delhi government seeks report

A massive fire broke out at the dumping yard of east Delhi's Ghazipur area on Monday leading to a huge cloud of smoke enveloping the region and neighbouring areas.

New Delhi: A massive fire broke out at the dumping yard of east Delhi's Ghazipur area on Monday leading to a huge cloud of smoke enveloping the region and neighbouring areas. No casualty has been reported, an official of the fire department said, adding that nine fire tenders are at the spot to bring the blaze under control. Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said efforts are on to douse the flames, adding that it may take few more hours.

According to the fire department, a call was received at around 2.30 pm about the fire in Khaata at Ghazipur. Garg told the media that the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. A thick blanket of smoke was seen at a section of the dumping yard, where the fire broke out. East Delhi Municipal Corporation's standing committee chairman Beer Singh Panwar said the fire was caused due to "high temperature" as plastic is one of the major components of the legacy waste and methane keeps getting generated. He said the EDMC has deployed 22 bulldozers to help in the process of dousing the flames.

Meanwhile, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to submit a report on the incident within 24 hours. In April last year, the DPCC had imposed a fine of Rs 40 lakh on the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) after a blaze at the Ghazipur landfill site. Last week, the central government had tabled a Bill to merge all the three civic bodies into a single entity, saying the 2011 trifurcation of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi was uneven in terms of territorial divisions and revenue generating potential.

Attacking the BJP over the fire incident at the Ghazipur landfill site, senior AAP leader Atishi in a tweet said, "Now that MCD has been brought directly under the Central Govt, maybe PM @narendramodi and Home Minister @AmitShah will care to tell us how they plan to deal with the crisis of the Ghazipur garbage mountain!." According to EDMC's plan, the giant mound is planned to be remediated by 2024, and EDMC is in the process of floating a tender for processing 50 lakh MT waste from it. Fires at the landfill are known to worsen pollution levels in the area.

Such incidents had been reported from the Ghazipur landfill in the past too, which indicates lack of measures taken and vigilance observed by EDMC to prevent such episodes", an official said. AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar talked about the latest fire incident at Ghazipur in the ongoing budget session of Delhi Assembly and demanded action against the guilty officials. He also blamed East Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir for the incident, saying residents of his Kondli Assembly constituency were forced to inhale the poisonous smoke caused by the fire.

PTI