Fire breaks out in dumpyard
A massive fire broke out at the Sector 21 garbage dumpyard on Saturday night, leaving lakhs of people living in the vicinity harried. The blaze got rapidly intensified, spreading dangerously close to the INFOTECH Centre and approximately 300 residential homes, sparking significant concern among the community.
Despite the critical nature of the situation, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) have only made limited attempts to dismantle some storage godowns, an effort that residents say has done little to control the fire. Local leaders emphasise that this lack of action directly violates the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s directives on waste management and fire prevention in residential areas.
KL Sharma, general secretary of the local Resident Welfare Association (RWA), said, “The fire started around 9:30 pm, and it took five hours with 35 water tankers and fire tenders to control it.” RWA president Prakash Lamba added, “This is not the first time we’ve raised concerns about the dumpyard’s safety, but little has been done.”
The residents have even accused MCG contractors of setting the waste on fire.
The residents of Khandsa village also highlighted that owing to fire in their dumpyard, they were forced to be confined to their homes.
“The fire starts in dumpyard every second day. We spent entire festival season shut in homes coughing,” said a village welfare committee member.