Deonar fire put out at last

The civic body has been able to control the fire at the Deonar dumping ground, which has been raging for the past eight days, much to the relief of residents complaining of breathlessness since the inferno started.

“The fire has been extinguished and the cooling operations are on the site,” said a civic official.

‘It’s high time people realise the importance of segregating waste’

No pocket fires were reported at the site since last night.

Fire brigades since Thursday, last week, had struggled to control the fire by sprinkling water, to overturning the dump of garbage, laying it with mud and sprinkling magnesium chloride.

So far, the BMC has failed to apply and implement any technique that could scientifically extract methane from the dumping ground.

However due to trapped heat inside, there was sporadic fire in few pockets, almost every day covering the areas like Govandi, Deonar, Chembur to as far as Andheri in thick smoke.

Following the deteriorating health, many citizens have even temporarily moved out of the affected areas. This is the third time in a year when the Deonar dumping ground witnessed extensive fire.

Meanwhile, Rais Shaikh, the Samajwadi corporator who had asked for assistance from IIT-Bombay, has submitted a proposal worth Rs8 lakh for contour survey of landfill and excavating methane from the ground that has been stoking the fire.

The IIT’s proposal include topological survey of the dumping ground to identifying the areas with high potential of methane generation and estimating its volume.

It also includes design of methane gas collection and its management.