Rai asks for report on fire within 48 hrs

New Delhi: Environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday sought a detailed report on the Ghazipur landfill from Delhi govt’s principal secretary of forest and environment within 48 hours.

Rai wrote a letter, stating “an incident of massive landfill fire has been reported from Ghazipur landfill site on Sunday evening, adversely affecting the environment of the nearby areas”. He directed the authorities to report the cause of the fire and the immediate steps taken by various agencies to control it, and submit an action plan to prevent such incidents in the future.

Experts have cited the formation of methane gas due to fresh garbage as the reason behind this summer’s first fire in the landfill.

“During the previous years, such fire incidents were also reported, and after visiting the sites, I had issued various directions to prevent such incidents in the future. Subsequently, department issued some guidelines to various agencies involved to prevent and combat such incidents,” Rai wrote, adding that a report be collected from all concerned regarding the compliance of these guidelines.

The minister added that all-round efforts must be made to control and douse the fire to prevent further deterioration of air quality in the vicinity to safeguard people’s health.

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