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Ghazipur landfill fire incident will be investigated, says AAP's Atishi

Within one year of BJP coming to power in Delhi, this garbage dump will be removed, he claimed

Ghazipur landfill,fire

New Delhi: A fire breaks out at the Ghazipur landfill site, in New Delhi, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (Photo: PTI)

Press Trust of India New Delhi

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Delhi cabinet minister Atishi on Monday said the Ghazipur landfill fire incident will be investigated to ascertain the cause of the blaze.

A major fire broke out at the landfill site in east Delhi on Sunday evening. Officials have cited hot and dry weather conditions as the likely trigger for the fire.

"Yesterday, Deputy Mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal visited the site. Today, Mayor Shelly Oberoi will be visiting the site to take stock of the situation. The Delhi Fire Service tenders were deployed through the night and the blaze has been doused. Some smoke is still left. We will surely carry out an investigation into the cause of the fire and the process by which it started," Atishi said at a press conference.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva on Monday visited Ghazipur landfill where garbage caught fire a day before and charged it was an example of "corruption" of the AAP government.

 

Within one year of BJP coming to power in Delhi, this garbage dump will be removed, he claimed.

No immediate reaction was available from the Aam Aadmi Party over Sachdeva's allegation.

Thick plumes of smoke still rose skywards from Ghazipur landfill on Monday, hours after a major fire broke out there.

According to the Delhi Fire Service, the landfill witnessed a big fire Sunday evening due to the gases produced in the massive mountain of waste.

"The Ghazipur garbage dump is a direct example of corruption by the Kejriwal government. They had promised to remove this mountain of garbage by 2023 but another has risen here. This is because of the MCD's corruption. More than half of the machines are non functional. Why were they not repaired?" Sachdeva said.

"It will be removed within a year after the day BJP forms government in Delhi," he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had, ahead of the 2022 MCD election, promised to clear the landfill site by December 31, 2023.

All the same, the mountain of garbage continues to grow.

In 2019, the height of the Ghazipur landfill was 65 metres, only eight metres less than the Qutub Minar.

In 2017, a portion of the garbage at the dumping yard fell on an adjacent road, killing two people.

Three incidents of fire were reported at the Ghazipur landfill in 2022, one of which, on March 28, took more than 50 hours to be doused. PTI VIT.

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First Published: Apr 22 2024 | 11:08 AM IST

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