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Videos show Delhi’s Bhalswa landfill site fire raging for 4th day
Firefighters struggle to extinguish a blaze at the Bhalswa landfill site in New Delhi.
Firefighters are struggling to put out a fire at the Bhalswa landfill site in north Delhi for the fourth straight day. A massive blaze broke out at the landfill site on Tuesday. Several latest videos showed the blaze churning out dense plumes of smoke and turning the sky hazy grey.
The Delhi government on Thursday directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to impose a ₹50 lakh fine for being negligent and not taking proper steps to prevent the fire at the Bhalswa landfill. Environment Minister Gopal Rai had earlier asked the anti-pollution body to probe the incident and submit a report within 24 hours.
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.
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.
The Ghazipur landfill has seen three such fires since March 28.
The wet waste dumped in a landfill produces methane when it rots. In hot weather conditions, methane catches fire spontaneously and the blaze spreads as it feeds on combustible material such as textiles and plastics.
