With the massive blaze at the Bhalswa landfill site, Delhi has witnessed its fourth large-scale fire in the last month, three of which had erupted at the Ghazipur landfill site
A massive fire broke out at the Bhalswa landfill site on Tuesday. PTI
Even after four days since a massive fire broke out at the Bhalswa landfill site in north Delhi, firefighters have been struggling to put it out as dense plumes of smoke have filled the air with toxic soot and turned the sky grey.
For being negligent and not taking proper steps to prevent the fire at the Bhalswa landfill that broke out on Tuesday, the Delhi government has directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to impose a Rs 50 lakh fine on the north Delhi municipal corporation.
This is the fourth large scale fire at Delhi’s landfill sites in the last month. The previous three fires had erupted at east Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site.
Let’s take a look at why landfills are a concern for Delhi:
Delhi’s landfills
The landfill sites in Bhalswa and Ghazipur are among a few across the city that have served as garbage dumping grounds for decades since they were established.
In Ghazipur, the landfill has grown to a gargantuan size since it was set up in 1994. Currently, it covers 80 acres of land and reaches a height of 65 metres. According to the Guardian, the landfill site exceeded its capacity more than a decade ago, however, it continues to receive more than 2,500 tonnes of garbage every day.
The Bhalswa landfill dates back to 1984 and now stands over 60 metres tall and 50 acres wide, which roughly translates to 50 football fields and a 17-storey building.
The Okhla landfill is another such garbage dumping site. Commissioned in 1996 by the South Delhi municipal corporation, the landfill is spread across an area of 40 acres and reaches up to a height of 55 metres. The site was declared exhausted in 2010 and finally decommissioned in 2018.
The threats posed by landfill sites
An eyesore and constant health hazard, the Ghazipur landfill adds to Delhi’s polluted air.
Last year, fires broke out four times in the garbage mountain. And in 2017, a large part of it broke loose and crashed onto the adjoining road, killing two people.
Due to the decomposing waste, people in nearby areas have to breathe toxic air full of noxious gases. This adds to Delhi’s already heavily polluted air.
According to the World Air Quality report released in March, Delhi was ranked the world’s most polluted capital city in 2021 for the fourth consecutive year.
Since waste segregation at source is not a common practice in the city, landfills have grown in size and number in and around Delhi for the past several decades.
The untreated garbage, when coupled with rising temperatures, leads to emission of methane, often resulting in fires.
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, it may also be the cause of the fire at Bhalswa landfill.
“Methane gas spontaneously ignites under such weather conditions. It is a natural phenomenon. Such a major fire at Bhalswa has not occurred lately and we will look into the exact cause once the situation is under control,” an unnamed civic official said.
As per the report, in 2020 and 2019, eight and six such incidents were reported from the Ghazipur landfill site. At the Bhalswa landfill, there were 12 fire incidents last year while two fires were reported this year so far.
According to a study conducted by experts from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and IIT-Delhi, the damage due to Bhalswa was worth Rs 155.9 crore, Okhla caused ecological damaged to the tune of Rs 151.1 crore and Ghazipur has led to an environmental damage of Rs 142.5 crore.
After an order by the National Green Tribunal in 2019, the three municipal corporations started carrying out bio-mining and bio-remediation process a the landfill sites. The Hindustan Times reports that due to fresh dumping, the pace of clearing inert legacy waste has remained slow.
The committee found high level of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Iron in groundwater at all three sites. It attributed the contamination to leachate from the dumpsite.
Leachate from the Bhalswa dumpsite also caused chlorides, total dissolved solids (TDS), total soluble solids (TSS) and turbidity in surface water body of Bhalswa lake, which is located within a radius of 0-1 km from the landfill.
“Even a small amount of landfill leachate and highly concentrated heavy metals can pollute a large volume of surface as well as groundwater, making it unfit for consumption. These leachates and heavy metals can ultimately enter food chain and in the long run, can affect natural and human resources,” the study said, as reported by the Hindustan Times.
After Tuesday’s fire at Bhalswa landfill, the hourly PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration increased to nearly 9-10 times of the national safe limits in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Hindustan Times reported that the nearest ambient air quality monitoring stations to these landfill sites also feature among the list of 13 pollution hotspots in Delhi.
With inputs from agencies