Faridabad residents protest dumping of waste in Aravallis
Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service
Faridabad, April 4
Residents have raised a banner of protest against the dumping of untreated waste into the Aravalli forest zone in the district.
Claiming that the waste collected from Faridabad and Gurugram municipal areas is now being diverted to the forest area located near the state highway in the district.
Jitender Bhadana, an activist of the ‘Save Aravalli’, an NGO, said more than 35 truckloads of garbage was dumped near the police post in Pali village on Saturday night. Destined to be dumped at Bandhwari village near the border of the two districts, he said the untreated waste was now being dumped at new locations as the areas in and around Bandhwari site had been used. Alleging that the agency hired by the Municipal Corporations of these cities had been ‘asked’ to dump the garbage at any available site in the area despite being a protected forest zone.
He said they claimed that the site where the waste was dumped was a temporary one and the waste was of RDF (refuse derived fuel) category, which did not cause pollution. The matter will be taken up with the NGT, he announced.
Challenging the RDF claim, Sanjay Bagul and Kailash Bidhuri, other environment activists, said the waste was raw and untreated and threatened to cause pollution of all types. Describing it as gross violations of all norms of the NGT and forest laws, they said it was the second spot in the Aravalli that had been selected for dumping of waste in the past two weeks. Officials concerned had allegedly dumped waste at another spot also located in the vicinity of Pali village, last month, which was opposed by a mahapanchayat of several villages held on March 26, it is said. Union Minister for State Krishan Pal Gurjar had also opposed dumping of waste in the area located near Pali village.
Yashpal Yadav MC Commissioner, Faridabad, said efforts were on to find a viable solution to the issue.
