Bandhwari shut, forest bears waste brunt
GURGAON: The closure of the sole waste disposal and treatment plant of Gurgaon and Faridabad at Bandhwari has turned the Aravalli forests into a huge dumping zone.
An HT team visited the Mangar-Kot forest area and found large amounts of domestic waste dumped in the Aravallis.
The hazardous urban waste, including plastic and concrete material, poses a risk to the already fragile ecosystem that are facing the developers’ axe.
The plant at Bandhwari village, barely a kilometre from the Gurgaon-Faridabad border, had shut down on November 23, 2013 after a fire.
Waste from both Gurgaon and Faridabad districts was sent to this 30.5-acre plant that has a capacity of processing 600 MLD of garbage per day.
“The biggest threat for Gurgaon might be the contamination of ground water as the Aravalli area, where waste is being dumped, is upstream of the city. The contaminated water will be especially hazardous for the new sectors around the Golf Course Extension Road as they are closer to the forest,” said Chetan Agarwal, environmental analyst. The waste is thrown in unlined pits, which raises the chances of toxins seeping into the soil, he said.
According to locals, though operations at the waste treatment plant have stopped, private sanitation contractors are still dumping waste there.
Some vehicles with more soil and construction waste are sometimes turned away which find a safe zone in the unmonitored Aravallis right next to the plant for disposing of the waste.
Environmentalists say that with no other designated waste disposal site in the city, the Aravallis turning into a dump yard was a tragedy waiting to happen. “I have made at least 10 complaints in the last six months, but no action has been taken. After the Bandhwari plant shut down, the forest department needs to be more careful about such people,” said Vivek Kamboj, environmentalist and founder of environmental NGO Haryali.
This hazardous activity will also prove harmful for the already declining wildlife here. Besides, the wild animals will be habituated to eating readymade food (waste), which will change their behavioural pattern,” added Agarwal. Stone quarrying is rampant in the Aravalli forest areas.