A major fire broke out at a site used by the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) to dump horticulture waste in Industrial Area, Phase 1, on Sunday morning.

Major disaster was averted as the site is right next to a petrol pump that suffered no damages. No other loss to property or human injuries were reported.

Initially, as many as 12 fire tenders were rushed to the spot from the Sector-5 fire station after the fire department was alerted around 6.30 am.

As the fire spread swiftly in the dry horticulture waste, it took firefighters nearly eight hours to bring it under control.

Even after 2.30 pm, fire tenders continued to remain present at the site to keep the situation under control. The waste continued to smoulder for hours, with thick plumes of smoke billowing into the air even in the evening.

Panel formed to probe incident

Taking cognisance of the fire incident, Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Gian Chand Gupta formed a four-member panel for a probe and to check if the waste was set ablaze on purpose.

The committee includes the Panchkula sub-divisional magistrate, MC joint commissioner, MC superintending engineer and Panchkula fire station officer.

Gupta also formed another three-member committee, including MC deputy commissioner Apoorva Chaudhary, MC executive engineer (horticulture) Pramod Kumar and chief sanitary inspector Avinash Singla, to control the fire. Home guards will also be deployed at the spot for round-the-clock vigil.

As per Gupta, 12 fire engines from the Sector-5 fire station, and one fire engine each from Sector 20 and Barwala Industrial Area fire stations were deployed after the call. To prevent the fire from spreading further, the administrations of neighbouring Chandigarh and Mohali were contacted, after which one fire engine from Chandigarh, one from Mohali and another from Dera Bassi also reached the spot, and a joint operation was carried out to bring the fire under control.

An NDRF team was put on alert to deal with any untoward incident and ambulances were also deployed at the spot.

Gupta said as trees shed their leaves due to the changing season, a lot of horticulture waste was being generated in the city and some anti-social elements could be behind starting the fire. He added that they were also exploring setting up a horticulture waste processing plant to deal with this waste.

Residents’ associations, under the banner of Panchkula Vikas Manch, claimed that the horticulture waste here had been lying for two years and any site for dumping horticulture waste must be set up far from residential areas. They said Panckula MC was to be completely blamed for this fire, as it had been ignoring residents’ complaints to move the waste.