NEW DELHI: A massive fire broke out at the Bhalswa landfill site in north Delhi on Tuesday, officials said.
The fire department received information about the blaze around 5.47 pm following which 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, they said.
According to officials, 13 fire tenders were at the site to douse the flames.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday asked the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to submit a report on the Bhalswa landfill fire within 24 hours.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lashed out at the BJP and said the fire at the Bhalswa landfill will "finish" the saffron party which rules all the three civic bodies.
As the fire was spreading in the nearby colonies, people were finding it difficult to breathe, Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said.
"Fire breaks out again at Bhalswa landfill site. The fire is spreading to the nearby colonies, due to which the people there are finding it difficult to breathe," the AAP leader tweeted in Hindi.
"This Lanka of BJP's corruption is burning. In this (fire) both the BJP's arrogance and corruption will burn and finish the BJP," he added.
This year, three incidents of fire were reported in east Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site, including the one on March 28 which was finally doused over 50 hours after it broke out.
Several videos of the incident showed the blaze engulfing the mountain of garbage, sending a dense plume of smoke into the sky and exacerbating the already polluted air in nearby areas.
On April 21, Rai had said the Delhi government will study a system installed in Mumbai to capture methane from the rotting waste and replicate it in the capital to prevent fires at landfills.
The Ghazipur landfill has seen three such fires since March 28.
The wet waste dumped in a landfill produces methane when it rots.
In hot weather conditions, methane catches fire spontaneously and the blaze spreads as it feeds on combustible material like textiles and plastics.