Fire rages on for 12 hours at Moshi garbage depot, residents concerned about air quality

PUNE A major fire broke at Moshi garbage depot at 5 pm on Wednesday and continued to rage on till Thursday morning, said officials

PUNE A major fire broke at Moshi garbage depot at 5 pm on Wednesday and continued to rage on till Thursday morning, said officials.

The area residents have been complaining about an increase in air pollution and claimed that the waste depot is constantly on fire due to the indifferent role of the municipal administration. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Five fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the flames.

Located off the Pune Nashik Highway, the Moshi garbage depot is the landfill site for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). The site sees daily dumping of garbage from the civic body. Most of this garbage is mixed waste.

A waste-to-energy facility is supposed to come up at the site.

Fire brigade officials said that given the inflammable nature of the dumped garbage, it is common for such huge conflagrations to take place during summer season.

Numerous plumes of smoke billowed into the sky as the fire took on an intense form. The area residents have been complaining about an increase in air pollution and claimed that the waste depot is constantly on fire due to the indifferent role of the municipal administration.

“PCMC is playing with the health of citizens and should take strict action against those responsible behind the incident otherwise a mass agitation will be started against this, ” Patil warned.

PCMC fire chief Kiran Gawade said, “The fire took place due to extreme heat weather conditions and has been brought under control.”