Hold meeting to stop fire at landfill sites: NGT to govt

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi chief secretary to convene a meeting of stakeholders to ensure that the landfill sites in the city do not catch fire and add to pollution.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the chief secretary to visit the landfill sites and come up with constructive measures so that they do not catch fire in future.

The direction came in the wake of a major fire that broke out at the Ghazipur landfill site in East Delhi on October 19 and 20 which was extinguished after hours of fire-fighting operations.

"We make it clear that all stakeholders i.e. chief secretary, Secretary of Urban Development, commissioners of all the corporations, senior scientist from the Environment Ministry, Urban Development, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Development Authority and Delhi Pollution Control Committee shall hold a meeting tomorrow positively at 11.00 am and if the chief secretary needs he may invite professors IIT, Delhi or from Delhi College of Engineering," the bench said.

The green panel also made it clear that the matter with regard to compliance of the order of the tribunal for stopping "use, storage and sale" of plastic in the city would be taken on October 30, the next date of hearing.

During the proceedings, the Commissioner of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, special secretary of Urban Development and officers of fire department assured the bench that they would take effective steps to control fire incidents.

The NGT had earlier said that except shifting blame, the authorities had no prudent answer as to why there have been incidents of fire at the landfill site at Ghazipur which had seriously affected the ambient air quality of Delhi.

It had said that emissions from such fire which emits from mixed waste of all kinds including plastic generates carcinogenic gases. The NGT had witnessed a war of words between the Delhi government and the EDMC over the Ghazipur blaze.

New Delhi: Development Minister Gopal Rai on Friday urged Lt Governor Anil Baijal to direct the NDMC to allow dumping of garbage from the Azadpur wholesale market at the Bhalswa landfill site.

In a letter to Baijal, the minister said that after the civic body imposed a ban on dumping at Bhalswa, the government had decided to dispose garbage from the market at Tikri Khampur. However, dumping was stopped at Tikri Khampur after protests by locals, he said.

"Following the ban, it was decided to dump the garbage from the market at a land in Tikri Khampur, but locals started protesting the move. The Delhi Dehat Manch also gave a memorandum to me to register their protest," the minister said. Rai said that the piling of waste could become a serious problem if necessary steps were not taken.

"I request you (the LG) to direct the NDMC's commissioner to allow dumping of garbage from the market at the Bhalswa landfill site until further arrangements are made to dump the same to ensure the smooth functioning of the Azadpur market," the minister said.