Delhi govt prepares 9-point action plan to prevent fires at landfill sites

New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has prepared a nine-point action plan to prevent incidents of fire at landfill sites in the national capital, which includes construction of peripheral roads for fire tenders and a ban on entry of ragpickers, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday.

Rai said officials of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi were asked to study a system installed in Mumbai to capture methane from the rotting waste and replicate it in the national capital to prevent fires at landfill sites. The officials had visited the Gorai and Deonar dumping sites in Mumbai in May.

“A constant discharge of methane from these landfills, rising temperatures, and a dry atmosphere are among the main reasons behind the fires at landfill sites,” the minister said.

The wet waste dumped in a landfill produces methane when it rots. In hot weather conditions, methane catches fire spontaneously and the blaze spreads as it feeds on combustible material like textiles and plastics. As part of the action plan, perforated high-density polyethylene pipes will be installed at the landfill sites to prevent the accumulation of the highly flammable methane gas.

Vehicles engaged at the landfill sites will be fitted with spark arrestors to trap hot exhaust particles from combustion engines, Rai said.

Besides, ragpickers will be banned and a four-metre-high boundary wall will be built to prevent unauthorised entries into the landfills, he said.

A team of the Delhi Police, MCD staff and security guards will be deputed at the dumpsites to prevent unauthorised entry of ragpickers. Suction-cum-jetting machines, an underground reservoir of 50,000-litre capacity and a peripheral road around landfill sites for fire tenders are also part of the plan.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority will develop a standard operating procedure to prevent fire incidents, the minister said.

On 29 May, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had directed MCD officers to submit an action plan within three days for the complete razing of garbage mountains at Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla landfill sites. Saxena had visited the landfill site at Ghazipur and directed that a dedicated team of officers be constituted to draw out an action plan mentioning a fixed date of completion for the complete razing of the three garbage sites.

The action plan to be submitted by the MCD will be monitored on a regular basis by the LG himself and if required, he would visit the sites to see actual progress, an official statement had said.

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