Delhi: Ghazipur landfill fire extinguished after 7 hours

A massive blaze at the Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi was extinguished in the early hours of Sunday after over seven hours of fire-fighting operations, a fire official said.

However, no one was injured in the incident. A fire was reported on Saturday around 5.50 pm at the massive landfill, which had partially collapsed triggering a fatal accident recently.

“Five fire tenders were rushed and the blaze was finally brought under control at 1.30 am,” the Delhi Fire Services official said.

The 45-m high landfill was shut down following an order by Lt. Governor Anil Baijal in the wake of the collapse incident in which two persons were killed.

The landfill site was saturated in 2002, and the civic body has been “looking for an alternative site for long time, but a clearance from the NGT is needed”. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation manages the landfill site that was started in 1984 and is spread over 29 acres.

According to officials, the permissible height for a garbage dump is 20 metres. Every day, 2,500-3000 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped at the Ghazipur site.