Police action awaited in Bhandewadi fire

Nagpur: It’s been over a fortnight since the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) lodged a complaint with the city police regarding repeated fires in Bhandewadi but the latter allegedly has not paid any heed to the issue.
As reported by TOI earlier, a massive fire had broke out at the side of Bidgaon Road on February 8. As officials and experts suspected involvement of some miscreants, NMC officials had immediately lodged a complaint with Nandanvan police station. “From our side, we increased the manpower of security guards and are also installing three CCTV cameras in the premises of the dumping yard. But if there are some miscreants involved who are deliberately setting the waste on fire, we need police intervention,” said NMC officials, who till now have not been communicated about the action taken by police on their complaint.

TOI tried to contact Nandanvan police inspector MD Nalawade but did not get any response.

Activists who visited the spot during the fire incident asserted that the fire was man-made and thus police action is a must. “Like last time, the fire was near the boundary wall. It is definitely not natural and is either ignited by ragpickers who often throw lit bidi butts or some miscreants who want the garbage to be removed. In any case, police intervention is needed as the health of residents is taking a toll,” said Kaustav Chatterjee, founder of Green Vigil.

According to residents, a large number of ragpickers and slum dwellers enter the dumping ground. “We are still suffering from the last fire. Many senior citizens and kids have taken ill,” they said. The total volume of piled-up solid municipal waste is believed to be about 18 lakh metric tonnes. Daily, 1,100 tonnes of city’s garbage is dumped at the site which includes all kind of solid municipal waste.