1 week Ago By Anjali Singh
Gurgaon: A blaze that erupted at Bandhwari landfill on Saturday night continued to rage, prompting the city's fire department to call in reinforcements from neighbouring Faridabad and Palwal too. Officials said 25 fire trucks and 40 firefighters were on the ground to battle the blaze till Sunday night. You Can Also Check: Gurgaon AQI | Weather in Gurgaon | Bank Holidays in Gurgaon | Public Holidays in Gurgaon "Our firemen are working in different shifts, and they haven't gone back home since.
Efforts are made to control the fire," said Jai Narayan, fire officer of Sector 29 station. Smoke billowed into the city's skyline and residents staying up to 3km away from the landfill said they could feel irritation in their eyes and throat all day long. "Frequent fires are making life difficult, especially with already soaring temperatures," said Manoj, a resident of Bandhwari village.
Dheeraj Tanwar, who lives in Gwalpahari, said, "Villagers are experiencing breathing problems and eye irritation because of thick smoke." The intensity of the flames was such that embers of burnt waste ended up in the surrounding Aravali forests, igniting shrubs and vegetation there. Fire trucks could not climb up to the hilly, rocky terrain, so teams from the civil defence and the forest department were deployed to contain small fires in the Aravali forests.
Divisional forest officer Raj Kumar told TOI the blaze was largely confined to the landfill so far. "We are trying to build fire lines in this area and increasing deployment, so that the fire can be detected quickly and controlled before it spreads," he said. A fire department official said the cause of the fire was not known but it isn't uncommon to see landfills – where combustible methane is released by decomposing garbage -- go up in flames in dry, summer months.
Saturday's fire was reported by Bandhwari staffers around 8pm. A team from the Sector 29 fire station was deployed, but as the blaze spread rapidly beyond control, additional teams were called in from stations in Sector 37, Udyog Vihar, Bhim Nagar, Manesar, Sohna, and districts Palwal and Faridabad. Officials said fire engines have made 150 trips to load up on water from a tubewell around 5-6km from the landfill.
Gurgaon police and municipal corporation staffers are overseeing the operation at the site. The Bandhwari fire was the third blaze to be reported in the city and Faridabad on Saturday. Two forest fires tore through 80 acres of protected Aravalis in Mangar (Gurgaon) and Badkhal (Faridabad) earlier in the day.
MCG additional commissioner Balpreet Singh acknowledged there have been multiple fires over the past few days as temperatures have shot up. "Discussions are happening about future preparedness, potentially involving stationing fire tenders or tankers at Bandhwari. There's also a suggestion to install a borewell near the landfill site to have a water source in case of future fires, but this requires administrative approval," Singh said.
The raging fire is the fourth such blaze to be reported from Bandhwari this month, raising concerns about waste management practices at the landfill site. Before this, fires were reported on April 3, 6 and 21. MCG, which was directed to clear legacy waste piling up at the landfill site in 2022, had told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently that it expects to clear waste by July this year.
Environmentalists warned that the city needs to have a fire mitigation plan to save the ecologically sensitive hills and stop fires at the Bandhwari landfill. "Fires in landfills and dumpyards are becoming very common of late owing to a number of factors, including increasing temperature and composition of waste, which comprises highly flammable and hazardous stuff. In a country where segregation continues to be a major challenge, landfills accommodate waste of all sorts, making things even more vulnerable," said Dr Pranab J Patar, an expert in environmental sustainability and climate change adaptation.
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