Major fire erupts at Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site, smoke engulfs area

"We received a call regarding the fire at 5:22 pm. Efforts are being made to douse the fire," a Delhi Fire Services official said.

A significant fire erupted at the Ghazipur landfill site in east Delhi on Sunday evening, officials said.

Major fire breaks out at Ghazipur landfill site in East Delhi. (HT Photo/Vipin Kumar)

The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) received a call on the fire at 5:22 pm and two fire tenders were dispatched to the scene. Efforts are currently underway to extinguish the flames.

"We received a call regarding the fire at 5:22 pm. Two fire tenders were pressed into service. Efforts are being made to douse the fire. Local police have been informed," a DFS official said.

In addition to the fire tenders, excavators from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have been deployed to help control the blaze.

The incident has sparked criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging that despite promises to clear the Ghazipur landfill site by December 31 last year, the Aam Aadami Party government has failed to fulfil its commitment.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that due to the landfill fire smoke has engulfed the entire area and causing inconvenience to residents and businesses alike.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Singh, who was passing by, took to social media platform to highlight waste management failure. “Just drove past a terrible fire engulfing the Ghazipur landfill! Such fire outbreaks are hard to contain and bring into focus the systemic failure of our waste management policies and practices,” he wrote on X.

The Ghazipur landfill has been a longstanding environmental concern, reaching a towering height of 65 meters by 2019, just eight meters shorter than the iconic Qutub Minar. Past incidents, such as a collapse in 2017 that claimed two lives, have underscored the hazards associated with the landfill.

In 2022 alone, three fire incidents were recorded at the Ghazipur landfill, including one on March 28 that required over 50 hours to extinguish.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had previously pledged to resolve the landfill issue by December 31 last year, ahead of the 2022 MCD elections. However, rather than reducing waste, additional garbage has been accumulating at the site.

(Inputs from PTI)