More than two dozen fire tender vehicles were pressed into service to control fire which broke out at Bhanpur landfill site and impacted around one lakh citizens who reported suffocation and breathing problems in the early morning on Tuesday and late in the night on Monday.

Panic prevailed from Ayodhya Nagar to Ashok garden area after people suffered cough and suffocation and feared gas leakage in the nearby area. The fire broke out in the evening on Monday.

Fire brigade officer Rameshwar Neel said that 25 fire tender vehicles were deployed to control and pacify the fire and the task was completed in the morning on Tuesday. later the smoke continued as the fire broke out inside the garbage dump which made it massive and took time to control.

The smoke continued emitting till the afternoon even after the fire was pacified by the fire tenders.

The areas which were witnessed with smoke were Shiv Nagar, Kalyan Nagar, leeladhar Nagar, Bhanpur, Khejda, Damkheda, Malikheda, JK Road, Kalpana Nagar, Sonagiri, MPEB Colony, Punjabi Bagh and Ashoka Garden.

Rakesh Sharma, Health Officer BMC said that possibly the fire was set by some hooligans on Monday which was controlled by Tuesday morning completely.

The corporator of ward 73 Tulsa Verma has alleged that the concerned officials have not taken the pacifying of fire seriously which lead to the creating of panic and inconvenience to the locals. Timely action could have saved the panic and suffering of the people who have informed that the fire has created trouble and were unaware of the reason behind the coughing and suffocation.

The lack of vigil by security personnel at the dumping ground is the possible reason as even after the dumping ground is closed and security is deployed the miscreants managed to create mischief.

Mayor Alok Sharma has told that enquiry would be conducted into the matter and action would be taken against the responsible persons.