NEW DELHI: A fire broke out at northwest Delhi’s Bhalswa sanitary landfill site on Friday afternoon, the second such incident in less than a month when a massive fire at the waste mountain kept raging for over 10 days. According to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) officials, a call regarding the fire was received at 1.52 pm, following which five fire tenders were rushed to the spot.
“The fire was not that widespread and was brought under control within an hour. As the site is huge, the firefighters require time to reach the spot and douse the fire,” said a senior fire official. Besides the firefighters, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials were also present to help in the operation. “The fire this time was not that big. It occurred mainly due to the high temperatures in the city. The site is filled with tonnes of legacy waste as well as fresh decomposing waste, which allows methane production that leads to fire break outs,” said a senior civic official.
On April 26, a massive fire broke out at the Bhalswa landfill. The fire raged for more than 10 days in some pockets of the mountain while firefighting operations continued. MCD and other disaster management agencies were continuously trying to douse the fire until it was brought under control. Clouds of smoke from the landfill had engulfed the surrounding neighbourhoods, making it difficult for the residents to breathe. Prior to this, three major fire incidents at the Ghazipur landfill site were reported and were doused over 50 hours after breaking out.
Last Sunday, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena visited the Ghazipur landfill and asked MCD officials to take steps and submit a status report on the plan to completely raze the three landfill sites in the city — Ghazipur, Bhalaswa and Okhla. A status report on the same was submitted to the L-G office on Friday. The MCD officials said that they have made plans to flatten and cap these landfill sites.