North Delhi Civic Body Fined Rs 50 Lakh Over Fire At Landfill Site

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the North Delhi Municipal Corporation for being negligent and not taking proper steps to prevent the fire at the Bhalswa landfill, 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 said.

Mr Rai on Wednesday said the BJP-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.

On April 21, Mr Rai had said the Delhi government would study a system installed in Mumbai to capture methane from the rotting waste and replicate it in the national capital to prevent fires at landfills.

The Ghazipur landfill has seen three such fires since March 28.

The wet waste dumped in a landfill produces methane when it rots. In hot weather conditions, methane catches fire spontaneously and the blaze spreads as it feeds on combustible material such as textiles and plastics.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)