BHOPAL: A major fire broke out in the landfill site of Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday. Over 1000 villagers of Arjun Nagar, Padaria, Haripura and Kolua Khurd were on an edge as they anxiously witnessed the smoke enveloping the entire area for over ten hours. The villagers have been demanding that they be given plots for relocation ever since the landfill site was shifted in their vicinity in 2018.
This is the second fire in the landfill site. Similar fire had broken out in January 2018 Bhanpur landfill site. The fresh incident kept the officials on their toes for over ten hours. Over 20 teams of fire brigade kept battling the flames and smoke for the whole period. The flames were on until the news was being filed.
The villagers on the other hand said it was not possible for them to have sleep or food inside their homes as the smoke had engulfed the entire area and had also entered their houses. Few of the houses that were near the site are vulnerable as there is a risk of flames hitting theses houses due to the wind. The BMC officials including commissioner B Vijay Dutta, additional commissioner Rajesh Rathore, fire oficer Rameshwar Neel and others reached the site to oversee the relief work.
Mansingh Banjara, a resident of Arjun Nagar says the fire broke out at around 2 pm and the smoke soon started entering their houses. Initially we were unaware of what is it but soon it engulfed the area. We are forced to sit outside our houses, while waiting for the relief work, he said.
Dinesh Dixit, resident of Kolua area said that he has sent his family to his relatives as the relief teams are yet to control the smoke. We are awaiting the relief work to be over so that we spend night in our houses. He said that the nearby Aznaal dam is also being polluted due to the site and after this fire the level of pollution will also rise.
Rajat Chowksey, another resident of the area says that the villagers moved out of their houses and are now staying with their relatives as the smoke has engulfed the entire area and has also enveloped our houses. He says that we have been opposing the site but they are dumping waste here without any safety rules being followed as the fire shows, they were not prepared for it and we are now apprehensive that such incidents will become common affair.
