Late on the night of 26 February, if you were in the balcony of the park – facing houses, you could not have missed the sight of a large & furious blaze. The sight was worrisome enough to start a flurry of exchanges on WhatsApp Groups.
While some residents shared an image of the blaze, many worried that the fire was in the vicinity of the Indian Oil petrol pump; a few residents driving past at midnight from the site of the fire confirmed that the fire was in the open land across Skymark and the Petrol Pump.
A couple of cognizant residents tweeted the images of the blaze in the hope of getting the authorities to act. Even if you slept through the blaze on 26th, you had to face the aftereffects on the morning of 27 February as the smoke made it very difficult to breathe, and many residents experienced discomfort.
News articles allege that the land in Sector 105 is a 30-foot-deep Garbage Dump. Either a careless cigarette or a notorious prankster has caused the blaze. I beg to differ. While the fire on the night of 26th was controlled with the help of six fire tenders, there have been several more fires since, four by my count.
These frequent fires hint to me that the Sector 105 landfill has reached critical mass and hence is catching fire again and again. It is the nature of a landfill to conflagrate, pockets of green waste trapped in dry waste cause this.
Even as we speak, the landfill in Aravallis is burning, while authorities either feign ignorance or competence. ‘Why is there a garbage dump in the middle of a highly populated sector?’ is a very good question which we, the taxpayers, must ask Noida Authority.
Another equally meritorious action to stop future blazes will be to step towards better waste management. We must do this ourselves. No amount of money can absolve us from the guilt of turning our children’s future into a burning landfill.
Only mindful action can turn that clock.
by Roli Shukul Thapar (Flat No 11142, 9566043006)
