Another year, another outbreak: Why Bandhwari landfill in Gurgaon sees huge fires this time of the year

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(Express) Make us preferred source on Google Whatsapp twitter Facebook Reddit PRINT Even as a firefighting operation involving 12 fire tenders, including private ones, was launched soon after a huge fire broke out at the Bandhwari landfill in Gurgaon on Wednesday afternoon and senior officers carried out late-night inspections, the struggle to put out the blaze completely continued on Friday. Smouldering embers kept reigniting across the garbage mounds, said officials. Speaking with The Indian Express, Dr Preetpal Singh, Joint Commissioner (Swachh-Bharat Mission), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), acknowledged a recurring challenge at this time of the year. “Between April to June, such fires and smouldering embers happen due to a rise in temperature and methanation at the site. We have methane level detectors and temperature regulation mechanisms like sprinkling of treated leachate underway but still … We are strengthening these systems. Since there was a strike of contractual firemen, we had to rope in fire tenders of DLF, M3M and Maruti,” he said, referring to protests by the contractual firemen, like factory workers across Delhi-NCR, for better wages and work conditions. Methanation is a natural process in which methane gas is produced as a byproduct of the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste in landfills. Fire Safety Officer Jai Narayan said at least three tenders sustained damage due to the terrain at the site, which is not suitable for such vehicles. “This… on top of the manpower shortage. The fire, however, is very much under control now and should be completely out by Saturday evening,” he said. The landfill, on the border of the Gurgaon and Faridabad districts, has witnessed similar incidents in the past. Last April, four incidents of fire outbreaks were reported at the site. Firefighters struggled every time to put out the blaze completely. The Supreme Court, taking note of the recurrence, had at the time asked for an affidavit regarding the timelines to clear the legacy waste that triggered the fires. Speaking on the frequent fire outbreaks at the landfill, Ruchika Sethi Takkar, Gurgaon resident and founder-member of citizen groups Clean Air Bharat and Why Waste your Waste, told The Indian Express that such incidents are inevitable because hazardous and high calorific value mixed and organic waste keep accumulating at the site. “Municipal ward level waste segregation and processing infrastructure, and prosper waste load checking mechanism at the landfill sites is what is sorely needed. It has a clear cut health impact. For the last two days, the city has been under a blanket of smoke,” she said. According to the MCG, the latest outbreak was reported around 2:30 pm on Wednesday. An alert was sounded, and a team of senior officials, including the Joint Commissioner (Swachh-Bharat Mission), among others, reached the site to coordinate for the containment efforts, said officials. MCG Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya and Additional Commissioner Ravinder Yadav have been monitoring the firefighting operations and conducting lat-night inspections of the landfill site, said officials. On Thursday, the MCG Commissioner held a review meeting and issued instructions to implement permanent safety measures at the plant to prevent recurrences. He also told officials to ensure the regular sprinkling of water over the garbage mounds and to enforce all necessary safety protocols to minimise the probability of future fires. Meanwhile, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Friday held a virtual meeting to review the progress of the 2026 annual action plan for cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) During the meeting, Commissioner Dahiya presented a detailed progress report, specifically detailing the strategies and timelines for remediating the Bandhwari dump site. According to the data presented by the MCG to the CAQM, approximately 17.93 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste remains at the Bandhwari site, to be liquidated by March 2027. The civic body has developed the capacity to process 1.5 to 2 lakh metric tonnes of waste per month, the pollution watchdog was told. Giving details about operational updates, the civic body said that contracts for deploying new processing machinery have already been issued to accelerate the work. While CAQM officials expressed satisfaction with the ongoing remediation efforts at Bandhwari, they directed the MCG to accelerate the achievement of its quarterly targets. Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana. Education - Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020) - B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019) Professional Experience Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features. Reporting Interests His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon. Recent Coverage (2025) - Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025). - Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025). - Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025). - Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram. - Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025). - Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025). 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