Despite 14 to 15 fire tenders continuously battling the flames since Monday evening, high winds and mounting heaps of unsegregated waste have severely hindered firefighting operations
10 June, 2026 – Moga : A massive fire that broke out at a major garbage dump in Dhalleke village of Moga district has remained out of control for over 48 hours, highlighting the collapsing solid waste management system across this region.
Despite 14 to 15 fire tenders continuously battling the flames since Monday evening, high winds and mounting heaps of unsegregated waste have severely hindered firefighting operations.
The fire has triggered panic among local residents and business owners. Sanjeev Mangla, a nearby sheller owner, stated that the fire has taken a monstrous form. “The toxic smoke is posing a severe health hazard to the entire area,” Mangla said, adding that his own business is under immediate threat.
Local residents raised similar alarms, noting that a large number of labourers working in nearby factories and shellers are highly vulnerable to severe respiratory illnesses due to the highly poisonous gases being emitted.
While municipal bodies frequently label dump yard fires as accidents, sources within the Moga Municipal Corporation reveal a darker reality. Insiders allege that these fires are often deliberately planned by private contractors and municipal committees to reduce the swelling volume of garbage in an unscientific and illegal manner.
Because plastic bags and polythene make up a massive chunk of the dump, and because bio-degradable (wet) and non-biodegradable (dry) wastes are never separated, the heaps do not just burn—they smoulder internally for weeks, continuously releasing hazardous toxins into the atmosphere.
Validating these insider claims, Narinder Pal Singh Ninda, former president of the Faridkot Municipal Council, admitted that the problem was systemic and widespread across the state.
Ninda pointed out three fatal flaws in the current infrastructure. He said the municipal bodies lacked the financial resources to implement scientific waste processing. There was a critical shortage of designated, proper land to shift and isolate these mounting heaps of garbage. Citizens do not separate wet and dry waste at the source, creating highly combustible and unmanageable mixed-waste mountains.
According to Ninda, in the absence of these core requirements, burning the garbage had unfortunately become a common, default practice across Punjab.
The Tribune