Panel summons MCD commissioners

Garbage and waste burning is one of the major contributors to air pollution in the capital. The AAP had earlier accused of the BJP, which is in power in the three civic bodies, of mismanagement of the Ghazipur landfill and demanded a probe by L-G Anil Baijal into the incident. The BJP had termed the accusations “frivolous”

The commissioners of the East and North Delhi Municipal Corporations have been summoned before the Delhi assembly’s environment committee regarding frequent fire incidents at the Ghazipur and Bhalaswa landfill sites in the city.

Senior AAP leader and committee chairperson Atishi on Tuesday said the two landfill sites have been major contributors to air pollution in Delhi (Reuters file photo)

As per the notice issued to the two commissioners on December 7, they have been asked to appear before the committee on December 9.

Garbage and waste burning is one of the major contributors to air pollution in the capital. The AAP had earlier accused of the BJP, which is in power in the three civic bodies, of mismanagement of the Ghazipur landfill and demanded a probe by L-G Anil Baijal into the incident. The BJP had termed the accusations “frivolous”

Senior AAP leader and committee chairperson Atishi on Tuesday said the two landfill sites have been major contributors to air pollution in Delhi. “The two commissioners have been summoned to ensure that such fire incidents do not occur in the future,” Atishi said in a statement.

She added that the meeting has been called to know the reason behind poor waste management of the municipal corporations, which is leading to frequent incidents of garbage burning and a considerable increase in the height of the landfill sites in Delhi.

On November 25, a fire at the Ghazipur landfill that raged for over 12 hours had led to a spike in the pollution levels in Delhi with the air quality reaching the severe zone.

Three days later, another fire was reported from the Bhalaswa landfill site. “These fire incidents are making all the efforts of the Delhi government redundant and strict action must be taken against the authorities responsible for the fires,” said Atishi.

Both EDMC commissioner Dilraj Kaur and Gyanesh Bharti, who is SDMC commissioner, and is handling North MCD as additional charge have been been infected by Covid and could not be reached for a comment.