Expressing concern over the recent fire incidents at the Ghazipur landfill site here, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre, Delhi government, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and other authorities to submit a status report on the incidents.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla asked the authorities to explain the steps taken to extinguish the fire and a plan to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future. The court has scheduled the next hearing for the next month.
The High Court’s order came while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) initiated in 2015 by the court itself on the issue of air pollution in the Capital.
On March 28, a fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill site, which took over two days to be brought under control. The Delhi Fire Service said that no casualties were reported in the incident and it took nine fire tenders to douse the fire.
Meanwhile, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has ordered the DPCC to investigate the incident and submit a report. Another fire broke out at the landfill site on April 9 night, which was doused within three hours.
The Delhi government has slapped a fine of ₹50 lakh on the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) for the massive fire at the landfill site.
Fire stokes political flames
Speaking on the consecutive fire incidents at the landfill, Environment Minister Gopal Rai had earlier blamed the EDMC, saying it showed “sheer negligence” in maintaining the rules and regulations.
Commenting on the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the “mountain of garbage” at the Ghazipur landfill was a result of the inefficiency and corruption in the BJP-ruled civic bodies. “Just when the people of Delhi had decided to give AAP a chance to run the civic bodies and fix the problem of garbage, the BJP got the elections postponed,” Mr. Sisodia added.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor demanded that the Delhi government developed new landfill sites. He added that while AAP leaders raised questions about the rising mounds of garbage at Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfill sites regularly, the Delhi government had not extended any help to mitigate the garbage dumped at these sites.
