From green to grey: Illegal dumping takes over Gurugram’s open spaces
With Gurugram burdened by 10 lakh metric tonnes of legacy construction and demolition (C&D) waste and an additional 2,500 tonnes being generated daily, residents are pinning their hopes on the upcoming civic elections for a solution.
A majority of the city's 36 wards are struggling with debris, which has encroached upon vacant plots, green belts, drains and public spaces. Residents are now demanding that councillor and mayoral candidates prioritise waste management in their manifestos.
According to a 2024 Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) survey, the city has around 100 illegal dumping spots, with some of the worst-affected areas being the Aravallis along the Gurugram-Faridabad Road. Despite an ongoing waste crisis being declared in 2024, Gurugram still lacks a dedicated C&D waste collection agency since 2021. This gap has allowed the illegal dumping mafia to thrive, turning the city into what many call a “mega dumpyard.”
Although the issue was raised during Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, it did not gain prominence. However, with conditions worsening, residents are now demanding clear answers.
“The city is one big concrete dumpyard. Every day, hundreds of metric tonnes of debris are dumped not just in Gurugram but even in the Aravalli forest and nobody cares. When we ask MPs, they say it’s a local issue for MLAs. When we ask MLAs, they say it will be resolved once the councillors are elected. But where is the resolution? We want every single aspirant to tell us how they will fix this,” said environmentalist Vaishali Rana Chandra.
Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) say the worst-affected areas include Ghata, Southern Peripheral Road, Golf Course Extension Road, Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, Sector 14-17 Road, Atul Kataria Chowk, and Sectors 29, 42, 45, 47, 53, as well as DLF Phases 2, 4, and 5.
“For two years, the city has suffered due to the absence of civic representatives. With this election, we hope the new MCG leadership will provide relief from crises like these. The debris is not only clogging our green belts, empty spaces and roads but is also choking drains and causing massive waterlogging,” said Praveen Yadav, president of United Gurugram RWAs.
While MCG has designated a few official C&D waste dumping sites — including Babupur, Basai, Baliyawas and Daultabad —these locations have faced strong opposition from villagers, who have threatened to boycott the civic elections in protest.
Residents of Basai, home to Gurugram’s only C&D waste processing plant, have also voiced their concerns. The plant, designed to process only 300 metric tonnes of waste daily, operates under significant constraints. The private firm managing it is restricted to collecting waste only within a 15 km radius, leaving much of the city’s debris unattended and unprocessed.
