Delhi: After Ghazipur, fire at Bhalswa landfill

NEW DELHI: Less than a week after Ghazipur landfill site was on fire, flames were also noticed at the Bhalswa landfill site on Saturday afternoon. A senior North Delhi Municipal Corporation official from the sanitation department said that eight fire tenders were pressed in action, along with bulldozers, to control the smoke that had engulfed the entire area.
Saturday’s fire started around 11am and could only be controlled late in the evening.
While the official claimed that fire has been controlled, he added such incidents were likely to rise with the increasing temperatures. “The landfill site expired its due limit long time back but no alternative site has been allocated to us,” he said. “Such fires are caused by the production of methane gas from decomposing organic matter in the garbage”.
Besides being indicators of an acute waste management crisis, Delhi’s landfill sites also contribute significantly to its air pollution. The toxic fumes these landfills emit include extremely polluting and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, dioxins and furans.
Last year, Delhi witnessed a landfill fire on almost every third day, the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) data shows. The fire department had received 131 distress calls with Bhalswa being the biggest contributor to toxic fumes followed by Ghazipur site.
North Corporation had announced that it will initiate the process for green-capping of the exhausted site, which will permanently solve the problem. However, some activists have recently approached the green tribunal, alleging that the Municipal Solid Waste management rules 2016 were not being followed in the process. On Thursday, NGT has formed a panel comprising of CPCB officials to enquire into the matter.
A fire department official said the frequency of these fires as well as the challenges in tackling them had been increasing every year due to the rising height of the sites. “The steep vertical surface makes these sites almost inaccessible. Using water increases the problem as due to the porosity, the dried landfill also becomes active, further decreasing the stability of landfill,” the official said.