Rs 50 lakh fine on North MCD as Bhalswa landfill fire rages on

New Delhi: Even as the massive blaze at the Bhalswa landfill site in Outer Delhi raged on over 48 hours after it was reported, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has slapped a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the North Delhi Municipal Corporation for being negligent and not taking proper steps to prevent the fire, officials said on Thursday.

Environment Minister Gopal Rai had earlier asked the anti-pollution body to probe the incident and submit a report within 24 hours. "The North MCD did not take proper steps to prevent and contain the fire. As per the standard operating procedure, the MCD should have kept water tankers on standby to deal with such a situation," an official said.

The fire started in a small area on Tuesday, but it spread due to the negligence of civic officials and engulfed the entire mountain of garbage, he added.

Rai on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled municipal corporations should have used the bulldozer to clear the mountains of garbage in Delhi and that repeated incidents of fire at landfills in the capital are a result of corruption in the civic bodies.

Meanwhile, firefighters struggled to douse the fire at the landfill site, parts of which continued to burn till Thursday evening as the Delhi Fire Services continued to depute resources for it. Officials said that it might take at least another day to douse the flames entirely.

And as the fire continues to burn, the toxic smoke emanating from there has made it difficult for residents in the area to breathe. In fact, a school for ragpickers' children in the nearby area had to shut down because of it even as the air pollution there remained at hazardous levels.

Local residents said on Wednesday the thick smoke was choking them. "The residents have started complaining of sore throat, itchy eyes and breathing problems," one fire official said.

While the cause of the fire is yet to be determined by the DFS, officials in the North MCD who have surveyed the site said that it was likely caused due to the extreme heat, which spontaneously set fire to the methane gas pockets in the landfill site — a common feature of garbage dumps — a finding corroborated by the DPCC.

This is the fourth such landfill site fire in the Capital this summer — with the first three being reported at the Ghazipur landfill site in East Delhi.

Now, the Delhi government has said that a four-member team from the DPCC and the North and East MCDs will be visiting Mumbai next week (Monday) for a field visit to study Mumbai's gas-sucking solution as a permanent fix for this problem.

The team will include senior environmental engineer DK Singh from DPCC and environmental engineer Rajiv Sharma.