Fire at dump yard near Girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai
The Hindu
Police said that at 5.30 p.m on Friday, a few residents spotted a fire in a portion of the dump yard
A fire is raging since Friday evening on the seven acre landfill site near the Girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai, causing suffocation for residents and tourists in its vicinity.
Police said that at 5.30 p.m on Friday, a few residents spotted a fire in a portion of the dump yard. Immediately, they alerted the Tiruvannamalai East police, municipal officials and fire fighters. After, more than three hours of struggle, they contained the fire and returned from the site around 9 p.m.
However, locals again alerted the local police and municipal officials on Saturday morning that a portion of the site had started to burn again.
The fire was restricted to one acre space of the dump yard, which is spread around seven acres.
“More than 20 municipal staff including health officials, police and fire fighters have been working to contain the fire at the site. Around 75 per cent of the fire has been put down,” K. Murugesan, Commissioner, Tiruvannamalai municipality, told The Hindu.
Residents and tourists complained of suffocation, eye irritation and uneasiness in breathing especially those living around the dump yard. Being the weekend, fire at the dump yard also affected tourists and pilgrims, who come to visit the Arunchalaeswarar temple and the 14-km-long Girivalam path.
Officials said that some miscreants would have set fire to the accumulated garbage to remove scrap from them.