Assembly panel grills North, East MCD officials on landfill site fires; seeks plans to reduce height

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly's Environment Committee on Wednesday heard submissions from the Commissioners and representatives of the North and East municipal corporations of Delhi over the recent incidents of fire at two of Delhi's key landfill sites at Ghazipur and Bhalswa, which had caused localised spikes in air pollution levels at the time.

Chairperson of the committee, Atishi asked the MCD officials about the height of the garbage dumps, the rate at which the garbage dumps are growing, the number and frequency of fires that have taken place on the sites in the last six months, and an estimate of emissions of methane and other harmful gases per day.

She went on to ask what steps the MCDs had taken to tackle the fires in the landfill sites and the resulting pollution. According to the Environment Committee, the fires at the Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills seriously affected the air quality of the city and pollution levels shot up.

Rajeev Verma, Principal Secretary Vigilance, Dr Brijesh Singh, Additional Commissioner EDMC, Pradeep Khandelwal, Chief Engineer EDMC, Nourang Singh, Chief Engineer North DMC were among the attendees.

Failing to receive a satisfactory response, Atishi said, "At this rate, it will take you 25 years to tackle just the Ghazipur landfill. The salaries that you and I draw come from the taxpayers' money. We will not tolerate any negligence in the duties you have towards the people of Delhi".

The Environment Committee then asked MCD Commissioners to submit plans and timelines on Monday to bring both landfills to ground level. For next week's meeting, MCD Commissioners have been asked to report on the action taken against the engineers on duty, under whom the fires occurred, in the last 5 years. It was also decided that the Principal Secretary DPCC, should submit a report on the punitive actions that can be taken against the Commissioners if the default is repeated.

Atishi inquired about the expenses made in the last 5 years on waste management, and the bidding process, and the name of these agencies involved.

The committee has decided to hold another meeting that would include the South MCD as well. "The officials of DDA and urban development department both should be present. They should submit a report on the same," Atishi said.

"Our officials informed the committee that there have been only 2 fire incidents this year. They were also asked to submit some reports, which they will do," an official from the North MCD told Millennium Post.