VIJAYAWADA: Several residents in Ajith Singh Nagar woke up to a cloud of thick smoke choking their lungs as a minor fire broke out at the dump yard on Sunday. Upon receiving information, fire personnel rushed to the spot and extinguished the flames. However, the smoke engulfed the surroundings till the evening.
"It has become a constant worry for us due to frequent fires breaking out in the dump yard in our vicinity. Constant foul smell emanating from the trash is causing severe inconvenience and health hazard to the people in the area," lamented B Samuel Raj, a resident. Few days ago, Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana inspected the dump yard and assured that the waste would be cleared up and a park developed in its place.
The fire personnel said that the fire was first noticed in one of the waste mounds around 9.30 am. There was no specific reason for the fire. "We are suspecting that some rag-pickers might have ignited the fire," he said, adding that it took them almost thirty minutes to douse the flames aggravated by the presence of methane gas in the waste.