Gurgaon: The National Green Tribunal has asked the municipal commissioners of Gurgaon and Faridabad and principal secretary or additional chief secretary of urban development department to appear before it in connection with a case related to the functioning of the Bandhwari waste treatment plant. The tribunal said there was gross violation in compliance with environmental laws.
The bench of judicial magistrate Sudhir Agarwal and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel, stated, “We find that there is a gross violation in compliance with environmental laws and norms and the matter requires stringent actions to be taken.We, therefore, direct that besides both municipal commissioners who are present today to appear on the next date too. Principal secretary/additional chief secretary, urban development department and member secretary, Haryana state pollution control board shall also remain present.”
The tribunal was hearing two petitions on Feb 22 by resident Poonam Yadav and environmentalist Vivek Kamboj, who alleged that fresh waste was being dumped at Bandhwari continuously in violation of NGT’s September 2022 order. In the same ruling, the tribunal had also imposed environmental compensation of Rs 100 crore on Haryana government for damage to Aravalis near the landfill.
“Despite several assurances, the civic bodies have failed miserably to manage waste at Bandhwari plant. It is a pity that they are ignoring the issue and believing that things will be better even if they do not address the problem. People in the area are facing a huge crisis because of the failure of the administrations. Leachate and waste are continuously dumped in the ecosystem of Aravalis, as a result, the entire ecology is getting affected,” said environmentalist Vivek Kamboj.
The next hearing of this case is on March 12.
Waste from the two NCR cities has been piling up at the 33-acre Bandhwari landfill, visible as a mountain of garbage along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road, for years. An estimated 2,000 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped at the site daily, despite an NGT-imposed deadline to clear the landfill. Civic authorities have only been able to treat around 16.5 MT of legacy waste so far. MCG aims to clear all 34 lakh MT of legacy waste by April this year.
The bench of judicial magistrate Sudhir Agarwal and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel, stated, “We find that there is a gross violation in compliance with environmental laws and norms and the matter requires stringent actions to be taken.We, therefore, direct that besides both municipal commissioners who are present today to appear on the next date too. Principal secretary/additional chief secretary, urban development department and member secretary, Haryana state pollution control board shall also remain present.”
The tribunal was hearing two petitions on Feb 22 by resident Poonam Yadav and environmentalist Vivek Kamboj, who alleged that fresh waste was being dumped at Bandhwari continuously in violation of NGT’s September 2022 order. In the same ruling, the tribunal had also imposed environmental compensation of Rs 100 crore on Haryana government for damage to Aravalis near the landfill.
“Despite several assurances, the civic bodies have failed miserably to manage waste at Bandhwari plant. It is a pity that they are ignoring the issue and believing that things will be better even if they do not address the problem. People in the area are facing a huge crisis because of the failure of the administrations. Leachate and waste are continuously dumped in the ecosystem of Aravalis, as a result, the entire ecology is getting affected,” said environmentalist Vivek Kamboj.
The next hearing of this case is on March 12.
Waste from the two NCR cities has been piling up at the 33-acre Bandhwari landfill, visible as a mountain of garbage along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road, for years. An estimated 2,000 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped at the site daily, despite an NGT-imposed deadline to clear the landfill. Civic authorities have only been able to treat around 16.5 MT of legacy waste so far. MCG aims to clear all 34 lakh MT of legacy waste by April this year.