East Delhi enveloped in smoke as landfill smoulders

NEW DELHI: Huge plumes of smoke were seen emanating from the Ghazipur landfill site in east Delhi on Wednesday morning after a major fire broke out the night before, pumping carcinogenic toxins into the air.
East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) officials said the staff on night duty informed the fire department and senior civic officials soon after the fire broke out due to methane gas being generated from decomposing materials at the rear of the landfill.The site was being used for dumping fresh garbage for the past 2-3 years as processing and biomining legacy waste was being carried out on the rest of the landfill.
“The fire soon spread towards the periphery of the landfill in front of the wasteto-energy plant. Field officials controlled the blaze with the help of equipment and fire tenders. However, smoke or fumes could be seen as the fire was still breaking out from time to time,” said an EDMC official.
The official added, “Due to the steep slope, it was difficult for fire tenders to reach the site, otherwise the blaze would have been controlled long before.”
Even after 12 hours, the flames were still not completely extinguished when TOI visited the site on Wednesday.
Locals claimed that the fire broke out around 8pm on Tuesday. “Compared with past fires, this was a major one. A check should be kept on ragpickers and scrap dealers living close by as they often burn waste at the bottom of the landfill, which can turn into a major fire,” said Hasim Mohammad, a resident of Mulla Colony. Other residents added that fire incidents had been taking place frequently now.
However, EDMC mayor Nirmal Jain refuted the claims. “We have been working actively to ensure no fire incidents occur. Even this time we were successful in controlling the situation within an hour, but fumes kept getting released till late on Wednesday. We used machines to level the surface with soil rather than using water to douse the fire. But generation of methane gas can’t be controlled,” he added.
Jain, who visited the site in the afternoon, said, “Dallupura councillor Rajiv Chaudhary also filed a complaint with police after the incident to probe if the fire had been caused by miscreants.” Subsequently, an FIR was filed against unidentified people.
Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire Service, said they engaged nine fire tenders in the morning and four at night on Wednesday. “Since the fire has broken out at 18-20 places, it will take the entire Thursday to control the situation,” he added.