Delay in hiring new agencies hampers waste management at Bandhwari landfill

The work on processing and bio-remediation of solid waste at the Bandhwari landfill site has been suspended for over six weeks, ever since the contract of private agencies hired by the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG) expired.

Though, the MCG has floated tenders to hire three new agencies for the management of solid waste at the site, the Urban Local Bodies Department is yet to give approval for the job.

As such, no work on the processing and bio-remediation of the waste is going on at the site.

MCG Commissioner Ashok Kumar Garg said the approval from state government was still under process.

As per an affidavit filed by MCG Joint Commissioner Akhilesh Kumar in the National Green Tribunal early this month, at least 8.84 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste was yet to be processed as on November 30 this year.

A total of 30.43 lakh MT legacy waste was assessed in January 2023. At least 6.06 lakh MT fresh waste was added to it by the end of December 2023. From January 1, 2024, to November 30, 2024, at least 6.10 lakh MT fresh waste was also added to it. Last year, a total of 16.50 lakh MT waste was processed by the executing agencies hired by the MCG, apart from the 17.25 lakh MT processed in the current year. At least 1,200 MT solid waste is generated daily in Gurugram and 800 MT in Faridabad, most of which goes to the Bandhwari landfill site.

Akhilesh Kumar further submitted before the NGT that the MCG had recently made efforts to acquire land at Daulatabad in Gurugram district and Indri in Nuh district for the processing of fresh waste, however, due to large scale protests by locals, the civic body could not develop these solid waste management sites.

Now, the MCG has requested the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation to allocate 15 acres of land at Fazilwas village in Gurugram district out of the 1,128 acres of land acquired by it for the expansion of the industrial township of Manesar on a rental basis.

This request is also still pending before the industrial corporation for consideration.

Meanwhile, 19 local commissioners attached with the judicial committee constituted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court will visit all wards of Gurugram city on coming January 2 and January 3 to assess the ground situation of garbage being indiscriminately scattered on roads, in vacant plots and at public places.

They will send their reports to the judicial committee on or before January 24 while chairman of the judicial committee Inderjit Singh, a District and Sessions Judge (retired), and Jigyasa Tanwar, committee member, will then compile a concise report and submit it in the high court.

The high court will take a look at the report on February 17 and take further action accordingly.