Day after, smoke still an irritant

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

The department of fire and emergency services in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation continued its operation to control the smoke at the garbage dumping ground in Dadu Majra here for the second day today.

A fire had broken out at the dumping ground yesterday afternoon. Though the firemen managed to douse the flames, smoke has been creating problems for residents nearby. Importantly, this is the third such fire incident at the site in the past six months.

Today, apart from exhausting two fire tenders and an equal number of water boozers at the site, the MC staff started spreading sand to control the smoke.

Mayor Arun Sood said he had directed the officials to use sand to control the smoke, which was a big problem for residents.

Meanwhile, smoke spread to the adjoining areas in Sectors 37, 38 and 38(West) and residents there complained of uneasiness.

Rajesh Sharma, a resident of Sector 38, said this was not the first incident of fire at the place. There had been cases in the past as well but the MC and the UT Administration miserably failed to find a permanent solution to the problem, he said.

Narinder Chaudhary, president of Dalit Raksha Dal and resident of Dadu Majra colony, life had become hell for residents of Dadu Majra. They are finding it difficult to breathe while the authorities concerned had been ignoring the area for the past many years, he said.

Dadu Majra residents raised slogans against the Administration and the Fire Department. Raj Kumar, a protester, said if such an incident had taken place in some posh area of the city, the entire UT machinery would have been pressed into service to control the situation. No senior official came here to see the problems faced by residents, he said.

Till filing of the report, the fire and emergency services had used 4 lakh litres of water to control the fire. Besides, three sub-fire officers have been deployed on rotation basis to control the situation. Smoke was yet to be controlled.