Major fires at Bandhwari landfill, Mangar forest area

A few hours after Local Bodies Minister Vipul Goel and MC officials visited the Bandhwari landfill site and forest areas of Mangar on Saturday, major fires were reported from those spots.

Confirming this, Nijesh Manderna, Executive Engineer (Swacch Bharat Mission) of the Municipal Council of Gurugram (MCG), told The Tribune that the civic body immediately summoned fire engines and efforts were on to douse the fire.

A fire was reported in the forest areas of Mangar and Badkhal near the landfill site. The forest department has swung into action and efforts are on to control the flames.

It was learnt that the fire engulfed 40 acres of land in Mangar and 30 acres in Badkhal area.

The exact cause of the fires could not be ascertained immediately, but the officials of the MCG and the forest department believe that the fires could have been triggered by the hot and dry weather conditions.

However, they also did not rule out the possibility of a foul play, saying that investigation would reveal the truth. Both the civic body and the forest department have initiated an inquiry.

As per available reports, the fire incidents at Bhadkal and Mangar were reported in a short span of 20 minutes, which raises doubts of foul play.

The loss to local flora and fauna in the forest areas was evident, but the losses, if any, to the machinery installed for waste disposal at Bandhwari is yet to be ascertained, the MCG officials stated.

Until the filing of this report, the fire at the Bandhwari landfill site was yet to be doused completely.