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Fire breaks out at Bandhwari landfill, ninth such blaze at site this year
To douse the fire, 10 fire engines and 20 firefighters were sent to the landfill from Faridabad, Sector 37, Bhim Nagar, Sector 29 and Sohna. The incident follows a massive blaze in April at the same location, which had taken three days to extinguish
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Gurugram: A fire broke out at the Bandhwari landfill on the Gurugram-Faridabad border on Saturday afternoon, officials said, adding that no injuries were reported from the site. This is the ninth such fire reported from the landfill so far this year and videos of the latest blaze have been widely shared on social media platforms, they said.
To douse the fire, 10 fire engines and 20 firefighters were sent to the landfill from Faridabad, Sector 37, Bhim Nagar, Sector 29 and Sohna. The incident follows a massive blaze in April at the same location, which had taken three days to extinguish, officials said.
The fire began in the inner area of the landfill and quickly spread outwards releasing thick clouds of smoke in the air for at least two kilometres. Commuters reported seeing large flames combined with thick fumes at the site at about 2:30pm. The flames were very high and the smoke made it difficult for the locals and commuters to breathe.
Naresh Kumar, joint commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG), said that a sanitation team is present at the site and officials are coordinating with fire station teams to completely extinguish the fire.
Locals living in adjoining villages pointed out that it becomes difficult to breathe due to such regular fire incidents. “The pollution level goes up and the air quality dips further. We are breathing in toxic air and the children in the area often fall sick,” said Satpal Singh, 55, a villager from Bandhwari.
Rajesh Sharma, a commuter on the stretch, vividly described the scene, emphasising the intensity of the flames and the difficulty in breathing caused by the thick smoke.
Priya Singh, a daily commuter, said, “The size of the flames and the density of the smoke was immense. The reduced visibility underscores the hazardous conditions we faced, and the challenging environment at the site of the fire,” she said.
Gulshan Kalra, deputy director (technical), Haryana Fire Services, who also holds the charge of deputy director (technical), of the fire station at Sector 29, said that they received information about the fire at 2.30pm on Saturday and within five minutes, they had alerted other fire stations to send fire tenders.
“The fire may have been triggered by the combustion of methane gas, given the high concentration of gas at the site. Such incidents are not uncommon at the landfill during summer. However, the exact cause remains undetermined. It is plausible that a discarded cigarette butt or chemical substance may have contributed to the ignition,” he said.
Ruchika Sethi Takkar, founder-member of ‘Why Waste Your Waste’, a civil society movement for a zero-waste city, said almost 50-60% of municipal solid waste is organic fraction, and if it is not processed it releases methane gas which flares up when it comes in contact with combustible materials and especially when temperatures rise.
“MCG and MCF have been indiscriminately dumping mixed waste at Bandhwari in the absence of waste-processing facilities within cities. Landfill fires are bound to occur especially when fresh waste is dumped next to bio-mined waste. How can the municipalities be so irresponsible and not follow MoHUA directives and SWM Rules 2016? Gurugram and Faridabad have not set up wet waste processing infrastructure such as CBG, Biogas which even second tier cities like Indore have set up and demonstrated sustainable waste management,” she said.
Parimal Bardhan, a social sector expert and a resident of DLF Phase 1 said, living in Gurugram is increasingly becoming very unpleasant, particularly because of worsening air quality. “There are several cases of respiratory problems among children and the elderly. The AQI in many parts of the city remains either very poor or poor on most days. This is happening primarily due to smoke from uncontrolled burning of garbage in most parts of the city. Garbage burning has become the acceptable method of garbage disposal by MCG as it continues to turn a blind eye. People of the city have been pushed to the wall and they have no respite other than calling the fire brigade in a routine manner to douse garbage fire,” he said.
