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Journalism of Courage
This is an archive article published on March 31, 2021
Landfill fire as East MCD was careless: Gopal Rai
Addressing a press conference, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said an inspection by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) of the landfill site on Tuesday showed no system was installed there for curbing or dousing such fires.
Rai said the Delhi government aims to plant around 33 lakh trees this year. (File)
Environment Minister Gopal Rai Tuesday said the fire at Ghazipur landfill two days ago was a result of the East corporation’s “carelessness”, and strict action will be taken against it.
Addressing a press conference, Rai said an inspection by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) of the landfill site on Tuesday showed no system was installed there for curbing or dousing such fires.
“MCD’s carelessness was the major cause of this, and has contributed to the area’s air pollution quite extensively… Because of the advent of summers, such landfills are prone to fires, and a monitoring system should be set up to analyse them. As far as this incident is concerned, we will file a strong complaint against the MCD,” he said.
Rai also spoke about two recent reports on air pollution — by Swiss technology company IQAir and the CSE — that mention Delhi. He said these reports show that measures taken by Delhi government for curbing air pollution have been successful.
“The report by IQ Air revealed that the national capital has dropped down to the 10th spot among polluted cities in the world, and the one by CSE revealed that Delhi’s PM 2.5 has decreased at the rate of 25% between 2018 and 2020. CSE’s report also disclosed that Delhi is the first state in India to have shut down power plants that emit harmful gases and the first state to have 39 air quality monitoring systems,” a statement from Rai’s office said.
He asked the Centre to analyse these reports and create an action plan for curbing air pollution in Delhi’s neighbouring states.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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