We knew this was going to happen one day, say locals

Even as rescue operations were underway at Ghazipur where two people died due to the landfill site caving in, residents of East Delhi and nearby Kaushambi say they were not surprised.

Despite repeated reminders to the municipal corporation and a petition, residents living in the eastern part of the Capital and Kaushambi, Ghaziabad, rue that the landfill site had been working way past its original deadline and no concrete steps had been taken to shift the same.

Talking to DNA, BS Vohra, social activist who has been following the matter since the garbage dump started growing disproportionately, said, "It is a man-made disaster which has happened because of sheer negligence of civic body officials. The engineers and others at site let the mounds grow into tall storeys. This was to happen."

He further added that the site pollutes the water and air around the area making it a health hazard. "Repeated reminders to East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) have only yielded hollow assurances but nothing has been done on the ground. The government must fix responsibility," Vohra stated. His views were shared by Bharat Sharma, a resident of Kaushambi. "We breathe polluted air and going by the height this site has been attaining, we feared the worst always and it happened today."

Earlier on, RWAs in Kaushambi had moved the National Green Tribunal against the stench, groundwater contamination and hazardous emissions from the oldest landfill in the Capital. The matter on waste management is still pending in the NGT.

The Ghazipur landfill was established in 1984 and comes under the jurisdiction of EDMC.