Ghaziabad suffers 189 garbage-related fires this year so far, corporation plans removal of 90 solid waste dumping points

Ghaziabad: Incidents of fire at garbage dumps continue unabated in Ghaziabad as the district has reported about 189 garbage-related fires this year so far. Environmentalists

Ghaziabad: Incidents of fire at garbage dumps continue unabated in Ghaziabad as the district has reported about 189 garbage-related fires this year so far. Environmentalists said that there is hardly any enforcement against such fires which are one of the common contributing factors to the air pollution.

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The records of the fire department revealed that 68 garbage-related fires were attended by Kotwali fire station while Vaishali station attended 20, Modinagar 14, Sahibabad 26 and Loni attended 61 such fires during the period from January 1 to October 31 this year.

“The 189 fire incidents, related only to garbage this year, were attended by our five stations. The total number of garbage-related fire incidents was 392 from January 1 to December 31 last year. This year we have less number of such fire incidents due to the Covid-induced lockdown for several months. However, we are prepared ahead of Diwali festival. Last year on Diwali, we attended to about 32 such fire calls on the festival day,” said Sunil Kumar Singh, chief fire officer.

Last year, Kotwali fire station attended to 117 garbage-related fire incidents, Vaishali 76, Modinagar 32, Sahibabad 72 and Loni attended to 95 such fire calls.

“The number of garbage-related fires is likely to be on higher side as many go unreported and only bigger fires require intervention of the fire department. The practice of garbage burning is rampant in the city throughout the year. It has to stop now. The administration for the purpose of pollution abatement must come up with a dedicated control room which should be operational throughout the year,” said Akash Vashishtha, a city-based environmentalist.

Officials of the UP pollution control board (UPPCB) said that there have been 10 fire incidents related to garbage during the period from October 15 to November 3 when the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) is already in place.

“It is a major issue in the city and our teams, along with the teams formed by the municipal corporation, are keeping track of garbage-related fire incidents. In many instances, the fire department is also requisitioned to douse the fire. Such incidents also aggravate the PM2.5 levels,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UPPCB.

This year, the UP pollution board officials have identified garbage burning hotspots at Morta, Hindon Vihar, Sahibabad, Surya Nagar, open garbage dumping sites in residential areas, below Hindon elevated road and Arthala, among others.

On Tuesday, the officials also rushed to Dasna where a major fire took place at garbage dumps. Last week, there was another major fire reported from Abhay Khand in Indirapuram.

Officials of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation said that they have taken up a drive in which they have planned to get rid of about 90 garbage dumps across the city where solid waste is getting dumped.

“These spots are apart from the solid waste transfer stations and also probable sites for garbage fires. As of now, we have closed down about 54 of such dumping sites, and alternate place is being identified for the rest of the garbage points. We are also planning to construct boundary walls around the spots so that there is no trespass. The boundary wall will be made with mud and plastic bottles in which road dust will also be filled up,” said MS Tanwar, municipal commissioner.

He also said that five different teams of the municipal corporation in as many zones are tasked to keep track of garbage-related fires. “The teams are sent, along with the other teams, for checking of streetlights at night. Although our teams are not deployed 24x7, they do work till late night and report if they come across any fire,” Tanwar added.