Major fire breaks out at Bhagtanwala dump

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, May 11

High velocity winds led to a major fire at the Bhagtanwala garbage dump last night. Almost all heaps of garbage on 20 acre dumping ground caught fire which created a panicky situation in localities around the dump. The fire started around 10 pm and in a few minutes the whole dumping ground turned into “volcano”. High flames were visible from a distance of 2 km.

Residents of nearby localities assembled on the Jhabaal road as they feared that fire would spread in the residential areas. Fire tenders of the municipal corporation (MC) reached the spot without any delay, but were unable to control high flames. Municipal Corporation Commissioner Harpreet Singh also reached the dump.

The area residents claimed that garbage had been burning for the last several days at the dump. Though high flames were doused by firefighters on Wednesday evening, but the garbage kept simmering and the blaze flared up after the wind started flowing.

Vehicles of the solid waste management firm and bioremediation machines were parked near the dump. The staff of the firm managed to drive away these vehicles to a safe place. Meanwhile, activists of the Sanji Sangharsh Committee struggling for shifting of the dump from the city protested against the state government, municipal corporation and the solid waste management firm. According to information, no senior official from the waste management firm visited the spot. Firefighters toiled hard in the wee hours today to bring the flames under control.

“The fire stopped after the wind stopped blowing at midnight. Otherwise, fire brigade personnel were helpless in dousing the high flames. Around 19 metric tonnes of garbage is lying just one-and-a-half kilometre away from the Golden Temple. Regular burning of garbage is polluting the air in city, but no efforts are being made by the authorities concerned to end this menace,” said Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Bhagtanwala locality.