HC asks agencies for report on landfill fires

A bench of acting chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Navin Chawla, while hearing a 2015 suo motu plea on air pollution, sought to know the reasons for the blaze and steps taken to extinguish it.

Expressing concern over the recent fire incidents at the Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi -- on March 28 and again on April 9 -- resulting in the burning of hazardous waste that caused severe air pollution, the Delhi high court on Wednesday sought a status report from the state government, the municipal corporations, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the other agencies concerned.

Smoke billows from the Ghazipur landfill where fires broke out at the landfill on March 28 and April 9. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

A bench of acting chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Navin Chawla, while hearing a 2015 suo motu plea on air pollution, sought to know the reasons for the blaze and steps taken to extinguish it. The authorities have been given three weeks to file their reports.

“We are concerned about the fire incident at the Ghazipur landfill site in east Delhi... The respondents are directed to file a status report and an action taken report disclosing the reasons for the outbreak of fire at the landfill site as well as the steps taken to extinguish the same and all the respondents are proposing to ensure that such incidents do not occur,” the court said in a verbal order.

The court’s order came after an application was filed in a pending petition, highlighting the incidents of fire and claiming that the fundamental rights of residents have been violated due to the pollution by the fires. The bench, however, refused to entertain the plea.