High Court notice to Haryana over burning of industrial waste in Nuh village

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, June 2

Forced to live an unhealthy life due to illegal burning of chemical industrial waste in their village for over a decade now, residents of Khori Khurd village in Nuh have moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking respite.

Admitting a PIL filed by local residents, the court has served notice to the state government seeking a status report on various complaints and representations given by locals and the corresponding steps taken.

“We believed in the government and the local administration for over 12 years and it became a dump yard. Chemical waste from National Capital Region (NCR) and Rajasthan is brought and burnt here. Resident face problems in the eyes, throat and lungs,” said the petitioner. “A few days ago, a fire broke out. It was so massive that it spread to the jungle and could have easily burnt down the entire village. We now believe that only the High Court can save our lives,” he said. The Tribune had highlighted how the twin villages of Khori Kalan and Khori Khurd have become gas chambers owing to this unchecked burning of waste each night.

Though the authorities conducted raids and checks after the report and medical camps too were held in the vicinity, those failed to yield any result and the burning continued unchecked.

It was when the fire spread to the Aravallis and the Fire Department had to intervene that the state sent a special pollution board team headed by an SDM to conduct a review.

The residents, however, have lost hope and threatened to abandon the village after burning it down. Then, they pooled in money and filed a PIL.

“The court is our last hope. Many of us have started sending our children to relatives in other villages to study as we can’t see them coughing and dying. The authorities held no medical camp in Khori Khurd as their lies would have been exposed. The villagers are dying and hence, we moved court,” said local Panchayat in a statement.

Haryana and Rajasthan have also been at loggerheads for decades for alleged illegal discharge of waste in Haryana’s Rewari and Nuh. With a BJP government in Rajasthan, residents are hopeful that both states can work towards a solution.

Court our last hope

We believed in the government and the local administration for over 12 years and became a dump yard. Chemical waste from NCR and Rajasthan is brought and burnt here. Residents face problems in the eyes, throat and lungs. We now believe that only the High Court can save our lives. — Petitioner