Efforts on to douse dumping chute fire in Darjeeling
DARJEELING: The Darjeeling Municipality aided by the Fire Brigade and other associations attempted to douse the fire that has been burning in the dumping chute in the outskirts of the Darjeeling town since months. The smoke emerging out of the fire has not only caused inconvenience to the settlements near the dumping chute but has also emerged as a major pollution hazard.
“The fire at the dumping chute has turned massive. We have been trying to douse the fire. The fire has caused immense problems,” stated Dependra Thakuri, chairman, Darjeeling Municipality.
He stated that a go ahead is awaited for approval of a project to divert the landfill and come up with a new approach road to the new landfill. “We can then control the legacy waste. Proper and systematic segregation of the waste will be carried out. Waste segregation machines will also be set up,” stated Thakuri.
“The Darjeeling Chute has been burning every winter over 10 years now and is a result of unsegregated waste of Darjeeling being rolled down the hill over many years. This year the chute has burnt unusually long, over 5 months compared to previous years where it used to burn for a month or so only. We are in a waste crisis in Darjeeling and the fact that the Fire Department, Darjeeling Municipality and others had to go with 60 thousand odd litres of water to douse the burning waste is proof of it. Dousing of the fire is just a temporary bandaid intervention and unless systemic changes of reduction of waste, ban on single use plastics segregation at source, composting, linkage to recycling and community led decentralised waste management is not undertaken with a long term vision the chute will burn this coming winter too. We have to wake up to the fact that we are generating more waste, we have increased plastic waste and tourism related waste burden has to be looked at and make systemic changes that combine individual, community, institutional and even corporate action that is backed by policy, political will and vision” stated Roshan Rai of Zero Waste Himalaya.
A groundbreaking study, published in the journal “Atmospheric Environment” by Dr Abhijit Chatterjee, Associate Professor at Bose Institute, Kolkata, has unveiled a startling revelation about the air quality in Darjeeling. Along with Dr Chatterjee, the study, undertaken by Dr. Abhinandan Ghosh of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and Monami Dutta of the Bose Institute, indicates that Darjeeling would soon be added to the list of 131 polluted cities non-attainment cities across India. A non-attainment city is one whose air has failed to fulfill national ambient air quality criteria for at least five years. It would then be the only hill station in the list.
Darjeeling Truck Drivers Association and the Darjeeling town committee of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha aided in the attempt to douse the fire on Thursday.
