Bhalswa landfill smoulders for 3rd straight day as residents stave off smoke

A thick blanket of toxic smoke has made it difficult for the local residents to breathe with many reporting problems, including children.

The fire at Bhalswa landfill continued for the third consecutive day on Thursday with the firefighters saying several pockets on the 36-acre landfill were sporadically catching fire as they continued the operation to douse them.

Firefighters struggled to douse the fire at the Bhalswa landfill site for the third straight day on Thursday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

A huge portion of the landfill caught fire on Tuesday evening, the fourth such blaze in Delhi’s landfill sites over the last month. The other three fires were reported from east Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site.

A thick blanket of toxic smoke has made it difficult for the local residents to breathe with many reporting problems, including children.

Delhi Fire Services said the fire which broke out at the landfill on Tuesday evening at 5:45pm was “yet to be doused but is under control”.

“Because of the gases that the garbage emanates and the high temperatures, smaller fires are breaking out in several pockets and firefighters are working round the clock to douse them,” said a fire department official.

The first major inferno this summer was reported at Ghazjpur on March 28, and it continued to burn for three days. Two more fires were reported at the site on April 10 and April 20.

A municipal corporation official said when temperatures rise, the generation of flammable methane by decaying organic matter also increases.