Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said that the city Government has issued orders to adopt Mumbai’s gas sucking model to curb escalating fire breakouts in the landfill sites.
On Wednesday a fire also broke out at the Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi. There were eight fire tenders at the spot to bring blaze under control. This is third fire that broke out at site since March 28. Meanwhile, Rai said that a high-level joint meeting was held at Delhi Secretariat with experts from the DPCC, MCD, IIT Delhi, department of environment, TERI, CSE, IGL, GAIL, and other concerned departments, where the gas sucking system built at Mumbai's dumping site was chosen. Rai further said that biggest cause of fire in landfill sites is continuous release of methane gas, which not only promotes fire incidents but is also harmful to atmosphere.
“With the installation of this gas sucking system, emission of methane gas from waste can be regulated to an extent. Taking these factors into consideration, orders have also been issued by ministry to send combined teams of DPCC and MCD to Mumbai to get information about working model of gas sucking system,” said Rai.
Rai also said that under the Anti Open Burning campaign, 500 teams of 10 departments have been deployed all over Delhi. “They are conducting round the clock inspections and taking appropriate action related to case wise instances of open burning,” he said.
“MCD and DPCC teams have also been given orders to keep a vigilant eye on any fires that break out at landfills. These teams will not only monitor landfill sites on a regular basis, but will also seek to avoid future fires. The Delhi government is working hard to ensure that the city is not just pollution-free but also clean,” Rai added.