A huge fire broke out at a landfill site in East Delhi’s Ghazipur area on Monday, PTI reported. While no casualty has been reported, a total of nine fire tenders were at the spot till evening to douse the flames.
According to the fire department, a call was made about the fire in Khaata area around 2.30 pm. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said, PTI reported.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai has ordered the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to look into the fire and submit a report in the next 24 hours, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Chairperson of the Environment Committee of Delhi Assembly Atishi Marlena blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led civic bodies for the fire.
“The BJP-ruled municipal corporations in Delhi know about the garbage mountains being self-combustible, yet, they have failed to take any step to prevent this,” she said. “Delhiites want to throw BJP out of the municipal corporations because of this very mis-management. This is why the Modi government has brought a bill to postpone elections.”
Marlena was refering to the Bill introduced by the Centre in Lok Sabha on Friday, proposing to merge the municipal coporations in the national Capital.
“I want to ask the central government that if the municipal corporations of Delhi will be dissolved in a month, then who will be responsible for the health of the people affected by this smoke?” Marlena asked.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Kuldeep Kumar blamed East Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir for the fire incident.
“BJP MP Gautam Gambhir claimed that he reduced the mountain of garbage by 40 feet,” Kumar said. “We exposed his lies.”
Last year in April, after a similar blaze was reported in Ghazipur, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had imposed a fine of Rs 40 lakh on the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, PTI reported.
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