₹50 lakh fine on north Delhi municipal body over Bhalswa landfill site blaze

As many as 40 firefighters and ten fire engines had been rushed to the Bhalswa landfill site on Tuesday.

The Delhi government on Thursday directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to impose a ₹50 lakh fine on the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) because of a massive fire that broke out at the Bhalswa landfill in northwest Delhi on Tuesday. Smoke continues to billow from the dumping yard for the third straight day after the fire erupted.

A view of the fire that broke out at the Bhalswa landfill site in north Delhi on Tuesday (PTI)

The blaze was the fourth such incident in the last one month, as Delhi’s landfills are catching fire due to heavy build-up of methane between the layers of millions of tonnes of garbage and high temperatures in the city.

“The fire has been caused due to methane generated due to decaying organic matter in the landfill site. Our excavators are helping with fire fighting operation. Senior engineering officials from headquarters have been deputed to the landfill for these efforts,” a senior NDMC official said.

On April 21, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai had said the Delhi government would study a system installed in Mumbai to capture methane from the rotting waste and replicate it in the national capital to prevent fires at landfills.

As many as 40 firefighters and ten fire engines had been rushed to the Bhalswa landfill site on Tuesday. Bhalswa is among the three big landfills in Delhi, besides Ghazipur and Okhla. It is the second biggest after Ghazipur and is estimated to hold 8 million tonnes of accumulated legacy waste.

Rai on Wednesday blamed “corruption” in the municipal corporation for the frequent fires at landfills in the city, saying the BJP-ruled civic bodies should have used bulldozers to clear the mountains of garbage.

The fire has also shut a school for the underprivileged children, located metres away from the site.