LEH: After STATE TIMES broke the story of garbage dumping site in Leh being up in flames causing deterioration of the quality of air with every passing minute on Tuesday, Leh Administration swung into action to extinguish the fire with the help of Fire Brigade Leh.
A Fire Brigade tanker along with a JCB was working on the site under the supervision of Councillor Lower Leh, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh, Punchok Wangdan (Shunu) and Municipal Committee Leh officials to extinguish the fire. “I was informed about the fire by STATE TIMES yesterday and I immediately started coordinating things with the administration to put an end to this menace. I am concerned about the fragile ecology, our environment and the quality of air being deteriorated because of toxic fumes coming out of it,” Wangdan said while adding that he had discussion with Ladakh Ecological Developing Group (LEDeG), an organisation that strives to address the environmental and cultural issues affecting the people in the region due to modern developmental initiatives. Additional Deputy Commissioner Leh Moses Kunzang has helped Wangdan to manage tankers from the Fire Brigade to extinguish the fire. Acknowledging that temporary solutions to such accident are imperative, Wangdan feels that the need of the hour is to go for a permanent solution to this menace and all stakeholders must sit together to discuss it. The administration assured that scientific disposal of garbage will start from next year but Wangdan maintained that it may still take years to complete.
Najma, a rag-picker from outside Ladakh, has been segregating recyclable materials at the dumping site for the last three years. She has lost almost three trucks of segregated garbage to the fire. Her collection of recyclable waste material is bought by some people and transported outside Ladakh for recycling purposes. “It was a hard work of me and my family members of months and we lost it to the fire,” she regretted while continuing segregating recyclable materials from heaps of waste which have not been affected by the fire.
The cause of the fire was not known but officials confirm that the site has been catching fire quite often. Another rag-picker said that fire may not have caught accidentally as he claimed to have seen many people often burning garbage at the site. According to Municipal Committee officials eight to nine trucks of waste from Leh and its surroundings are dumped every day.