Faridabad, Gurugram dumping sites face perennial stirs by locals

Tribune News Service

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, November 22

Recently, the efforts of civic bodies of Faridabad and Gurugram to find a site in the Aravallis for waste disposal met with a protest. But this is not the first time that Municipal Corporation of Faridabad has to face resistance from the residents near the waste disposal sites.

Sunil Harsana, an environmental activist, says, the present site at Bandhwari village on Faridabad-Gurugram road had also witnessed such opposition. “The opposition started in 2007-08 when the site was proposed. The residents of the village and neighbouring areas had held a panchayat and started the opposition,” he added.

The protest withered out soon after assurances of employment generation, he said. But the MCF had to face the ire of locals again in 2014-15 after a mountain of waste got piled up at the site and the leachete started contaminating the groundwater. “The quality of groundwater may take up around 20 years to recover even if waste dumping come to halt immediately,” Harsana adds. The move to set up a waste to energy plant at the site also enraged the residents as they feared deterioration of air quality, he says.

Similar, agitation are now being under taken by residents of Pali, Mohabatabad and Mangar villages, the areas in the Aravallis were a new site for waste dumping is being surveyed. “The village residents have been up in arms since 2013 on this issue,” reveals Jitender Bhadana of Pali village and an activist associated with Save Aravali, an NGO. The residents demolished the wall of an under construction dump yard near Pali village in 2018, forcing the authorities to abandon the plan on which several lakhs of rupees were spent.

Satinder Singh, an advocate, says the authorities had to abandon the move to set up a new dumping point in Sector 74 after it was also met with resistance from residents of some of the sectors of Greater Faridabad in 2020.

“Protests have erupted soon after any move of the MCF for setting up a dumping or transfer station for 800 tonnes of waste that is generated daily in the city. The authorities have hardly been left with any choice as the present site at Bandhwari lack space and authorities have been ordered not to dump more waste there,” said an official. A 10 MW waste to energy plant promised in 2017 is yet to come up at the site, he added.

“Since the condition of forest clearance stands waived off in the region, a hunt for a proper site for setting up transfer stations for segregation and treatment of the waste was still underway,” a civic body official said.

First protest held in 2007

• The dumping site at Bandhwari village in Faridabad faced protests after it was proposed in 2007
• Residents again protested in 2014-15 after a mountain of waste piled up at Bandhwari site; residents feared water pollution
• Villagers of Pali, Mohabatabad and Mangar have been protesting since 2013 after the authorities started looking for a dumping site
• A proposal to set up dumping facility in Sector 74, Greater Faridabad, was abandoned after protests

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