Bhalswa fire: DPCC alleges North civic body of negligence, slaps Rs 50 lakh fine  

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Thursday directed the city pollution watchdog to impose a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the North civic body for “negligence which led to fire” at the Bhalswa landfill site. The flames could not be controlled for over 24 hours. Also, officials from the pollution body will be visiting Mumbai on Monday to learn from the “gas-sucking” mechanism at the garbage dumps in Maharashtra’s capital city.

Delhi’s environment minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said that the direction to impose the fine is based on an enquiry report filed on the matter by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). According to the report, constant discharge of methane gas from these landfill sites, rising temperatures in Delhi and dry atmospheric conditions are among the main reasons behind the regular cases of fire in landfill sites. “To regulate the continuously emitted methane gas, we have decided to use Mumbai’s gas sucking mechanism as a permanent solution. For the field visit and data collection, a four-member team of DPCC and East and North MCDs will visit Mumbai on May 2. The team will include DPCC’s senior environmental engineer DK Singh and environmental engineer Rajiv Sharma,” said Rai. 

Also, the DPCC has been asked to take a number of measures at the landfill sites including permanent water tanker stations at the top of the landfill, construction of a peripheral road for ease of transportation and an expansion of field workers.“The Bhalaswa landfill site caught fire at roughly 5.30 pm on April 26 due to limited availability of water tankers and negligence by the civic body,” Rai said. He further urged the civic bodies, DPCC, and related agencies to make all necessary efforts to prevent such incidents in future.