The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Fire in energy plant

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Friday, Jun 06, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Fire in energy plant

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: Fear of a major fire gripped Ajit Singh Nagar area on Thursday afternoon when thick fumes began emanating from the waste-to-energy plant of Shriram Energy Systems at Vambay Colony, which was closed down some time ago. The local people found piles of waste catching flames and immediately called the fire station. A couple of fire tenders were pressed into service around 1.30 p.m., followed by four more tenders.

Since the dumping yard of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation was located just a few yards away from the plant, the entire area was spread with municipal solid waste. As the fire began spreading in the area, it became a tough task for firemen to control the flames. They initially sprayed water on the power plant to protect it from catching fire and later began putting out the fire that was about to spread to the dumping yard.

After a three-hour-long exercise, the fire fighters managed to bring the fire under control to a maximum extent. However, there was no way to protect the residents of Ajit Singh Nagar from the stink and smoke that soon engulfed the area, following which children began complaining of headache. There was, however, no loss of property.

District Fire Officer D. Murali Mohan suspected that cigarette butts thrown on the waste piles in the dumping yard by some rag-pickers could have triggered the fire.

Mayor Mallika Begum, Municipal Commissioner P.S. Pradyumna and Police Commissioner K.V. Rajendranath Reddy visited the spot.

Holding the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) responsible for the fire, Ch. Babu Rao, floor leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the VMC general body, demanded that the VMC’s dumping yard as well as the plant should be shifted out from Ajit Singh Nagar as it was a residential area.

He said it had become a routine to see fire accidents in the reaps of waste at the dumping yard and over 6,000 families residing around the yard were suffering from several illnesses.

Mr. Babu Rao observed that the plant was no longer useful, as the number of days it remained closed were for than the number of days when it worked.

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