New Delhi: A huge mound of a garbage dump collapsed in east Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill site on September 1, killing two and trapping many others. Local people rescued six people.
According to the officials, five vehicles that were moving on a nearby road fell into a drain after the garbage dump collapsed on them around 2:30 pm.
The vehicles were thrown into the canal after they were hit by garbage from the mountain-like landfill site that caved-in on the outskirts of Delhi.
“Two persons have been killed and six others have been rescued,” a senior police official said.
According to a fire department official, the rescue operation was underway. Four fire tenders have been rushed to the spot.
The landfill site should have closed down in 2002. But at least one-fourth of the garbage collected in Delhi is still dumped every day at this site. As garbage piled up for years at this saturated location, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation did little to find an alternative, reports The Hindustan Times.
Incessant rain over the past few days made matters worse. Municipal officials say danger is not over yet as more parts of this garbage mound can cave in.
The landfill has crossed the height of 50 meters and still 3000 tons of garbage (including silt) continued to be dumped there every day.
The municipal corporation has not identified any other alternative site to dump waste so far. As per officials, the one site provided by DDA at O-Zone near Yamuna has been rejected by National Green Tribunal.
The Ghazipur landfill was commissioned in 1984 and is not designed according to the Municipal Solid Waste Rules of 2000, which mandates all such dumpsites to have eco-friendly garbage management facilities.
The site had no certification from Delhi Pollution Control Committee and should have shut down in 2006.
Every day, 10,000 tons of garbage is generated in Delhi. Of this, east Delhi generates 2,500 tons, north produces 4,000 tons while south Delhi collects 3,500 tons of garbage.