A day after early morning downpour in Gurugram on May 23, Vaishali Rana, a wildlife activist, and her friend Roma Jaswal Vinayak, a waste management activist, visited the Bandhwari landfill to check on the recurring discharge of highly toxic and untreated leachate into the Aravalis from the site, especially after heavy rain.
Ms. Vinayak, who videographed the pits filled with leachate on her phone, said if the discharge spilled over to the forest only after a few hours of rain, one could easily imagine what the situation would be like during the monsoon.
The two activists, along with several local environmentalists, have been constantly fighting against the leachate being discharged from the landfill site into the Aravalis for the past several years, harming the wildlife and contaminating the groundwater.
‘Spreading to new areas’
“We have been pursuing this issue with the authorities since 2017. Vaishali has a trail of emails sent to municipal officials, but to no avail. Every time it rains, the leachate spills over to a new spot. The spot we saw this time was not there the last time,” said Ms. Vinayak.
Ms. Rana said a report by the Central Pollution Control Board in 2017 had revealed that groundwater of three villages around the landfill site was contaminated. Another report by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute two years later confirmed that the contamination had spread to two more neighbouring villages. “With the amount of solid municipal waste being dumped at the site going up every year and the authorities being the least bothered, the situation has worsened. It has been three years since the last report, and I have serious apprehensions that the contamination would have spread further to Gwal Pahari and Ghata village,” said Ms. Rana.
Plea with NGT
In an application filed before the National Green Tribunal in this connection in February, the applicants, Vivek Kamboj and Ms. Rana, pointed out that solid municipal waste was being dumped in the Aravalis and the discharge of leachate in the forest area continued in violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 and also in violation of several directions passed by the tribunal.
“This act of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and Ecogreen Energy [private waste management company] was also in the knowledge of other respondents in the case. However, no action has been taken so far and pollution to the groundwater and surrounding forest areas of Aravali hills of Delhi-Gurugram-Faridabad border area is continuing,” said the application.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board, in its reply on May 26, said that a three-member committee was constituted, as per the tribunal order on July 19, 2021 in a similar case, and action would be initiated in the present application too after the report is received.
Amid the legal battle, the residents of the nearby villages continue to suffer. Tejpal, a resident of Bandhwari, said his village is among the worst hit and around 90% of the residents are forced to buy bottled distilled water. “Earlier, we used to use groundwater for drinking purposes but for the last five years, the majority of the villagers are drinking distilled water. The health of the cattle is affected as they still consume groundwater. All our complaints to the authorities have fallen on deaf ears,” said Mr. Tejpal.
Ms. Rana said the municipal corporation must stop the transportation of wet waste to the landfill site as an immediate short-term measure. “Almost 60% of the solid municipal waste reaching Bandhwari landfill site is wet. It is also in violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It must be treated at the source. It can help deal with the problem of leachate to a large extent. But the MCG does not seem serious about it,” said Ms. Rana.
