NEW DELHI: As the blaze showed no signs of slowing down the fourth day, the residents living near the Bhalswa landfill site lodged a police case against the North civic body on Friday. In a complaint letter to the Bhalswa Dairy police station, the locals said the smoke emitting from the fire at the landfill site has been posing a risk to their lives. They also sought legal action against North MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, Deputy Mayor Archana Dilip Singh and North MCD standing committee vice-chairman Vijay Kumar Bhagat.
“The fire that has been raging since the last four days has been posing health risk for the residents in Bhalswa. Residents of Bhalswa are not being able to breathe. The smoke is causing major health problems, especially for the elderly and the children,” they said. Locals have been complaining of sore throat, itchy eyes and breathing problems ever since the fire broke out on Tuesday evening.
Trouble for the civic body came from another front earlier in the day when Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal on Friday issued summons to the North MCD commissioner for the landfill fire and sought details from the officer about steps taken by the civic body to clear up the site. According to an official statement, the Commission has also sought details of the expenditure made by the North Delhi civic body in the last 15 years to clean the dump yard.
Fire-fighters, meanwhile, had a tough time to douse the blaze at the site. Several videos showed dense plumes of smoke rising to the sky and enveloping the area with smoke. On Thursday, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had imposed a hefty fine of Rs 50 lakh on the North municipal corporation for being negligent and for not taking proper steps to prevent the fire at the landfill site.