The Department of Environment is seeking 25,000 tons of soil to help suppress the fires in Mare-Chicose. The responsible minister, Rajesh Bhagwan, appealed to Mauritians to this effect, citing “national interest”.
The fire covers under the waste. 25,000 tonnes is the quantity of earth needed to put out the fire, which broke out on November 6, at the Mare-Chicose technical landfill center, according to the Minister of the Environment Rajesh Bhagwan. This statement was made following a meeting held on Saturday, November 23 in the conference room of the company responsible for managing the site. “We need 25,000 tonnes of earth to smother the fire. This is one of the options being explored to bring the fire under control,” he said.
Minister Rajesh Bhagwan urged those who can help to deposit soil from small or large sites directly in Mare-Chicose, rather than abandoning it in the cane fields or elsewhere. He affirmed that the Environmental Police will be mobilized to put an end to these practices. “We are requesting that these lands be brought to Mare-Chicose, in the national interest,” he said.
This umpteenth fire, which extended over an area of 43,500 m2, is, according to Minister Bhagwan, a “bomb” and an “ecological disaster inherited from the former government”. He was accompanied by Junior Minister Joanna Bérenger, three elected officials from the region, as well as various stakeholders, including the Special Mobile Force, the Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service, representatives of the Ministry of Health, members of the council of the village of Cluny and non-governmental organizations working for environmental protection.
The meeting aimed to take stock of possible measures to contain the fire. Note that, well before their appointment, Joanna Bérenger, head of the Sustainable Development Commission of the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), and elected officials from the constituency had already visited the site and learned about the efforts made to control the fire. On Saturday morning, they participated in this meeting more formally.
In his capacity as Environment Minister, Rajesh Bhagwan insisted that this meeting was not aimed at blaming the contractor, but to find pragmatic solutions to the fire. In response to a question from Le Dimanche/L’Hebdo, he indicated that the Mare-Chicose fire will be among the first reports he will present to the Council of Ministers. He also stressed that those who “failed” will have to take responsibility and will be publicly denounced. According to him, the multiple fires in Mare-Chicose are the result of poor waste management under the former government.
In its electoral manifesto, the Change Alliance committed to implementing “innovative solutions” aimed at achieving “zero waste” and “zero landfill centers”. This includes the reduction of domestic waste, recovery through composting, recycling, the transformation of waste into energy and the safe treatment of medical waste to eliminate any biological risk.
20 days to control the fire
Extinguishing the fire, which currently covers an area of 31,550 m2, should take around twenty days. Initially, with the resources available, the work would have taken two months. “We would have liked it to take less time, but we will do our best to speed things up,” said Junior Minister Joanna Bérenger.
She stressed that the country is going through a “national crisis” and appealed to those with the necessary equipment to help. The Junior Minister also clarified that extinguishing operations are carried out while ensuring the safety of firefighters and other responders on the ground.
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