Despite several attempts to curb open burning of "green litter", or horticultural waste, as we know it, the practice continues unabated in Dwarka — and elsewhere. This failure on the part of civic agencies has led to a growing sense of resentment among residents, who have recently started to voice their angst through whatever medium possible.
City Spidey takes a recce of a city on edge.
A couple of days back, Shobhit Chowhan saw smoke billowing from Sector 20, on Bharat Vandana Prangan project land. He went closer to inspect, and found that the dry leaves and grass had been set on fire. He immediately called the fire brigade and the police.
Chowhan says, "I was crossing the area around 10.45 am, and noticed the fire. I called up the fire brigade, but there was no response. After trying several times, I finally connected. They assured prompt response, but nothing happened. I called back after 20 minutes; I was told there were no tenders in Dwarka, so they were sending help from Hari Nagar. Everything arrived after 45 minutes, but a lot of the green in the area had already been destroyed by then. Are we paying taxes for this kind of service?"
In Sector 6, on a vacant land in front of the sector post office
A similar fire was witnessed on a 20-m stretch at Sector 13 near Trunk Drain 5 behind Metro View Apartments. This time, Rajeev Anand was the witness. A few sheeham trees were also damaged in the fire. According to Anand, the dumped garbage, and the dry leaves and grass had been set on fire.
Alka Sinha of Sector 6 witnessed a fire in a small heap of garbage on a vacant land in front of the post office building in the sector. The shopkeepers of the area or people in the market, she claims, do it after cleaning out their shops.
This is happening every day at God knows how many places!
Lack of a system to manage horticultural waste leads to such practices, feel officials of DDA and MCD. Much of the burning happens deliberately, though sometimes the fire can be an accident too.
"Civic workers, after pruning, just set the horticultural waste on fire. They don’t want it to be left there, but the way they get rid of it is unfortunate,” says environment lover PK Mishra of Sector 12.
A resident of Sector 4, Arvind Rudra, said, "MCD is largely responsible for such burning. They need to work out a practical solution for the horticultural waste. There should be some method to get rid of the leaves instantly — but not by burning. It’s high time they do something on the ground!”
