In two years, over 125 illegal dyeing units shut on Delhi-Sonepat border

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, March 12

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has shut more than 125 illegal denim dyeing units on the Sonepat-Delhi border in Kundli and Ochandi in the past two years.

All these units were found illegally established in the border areas of Kundli, Friends Colony, Piau Manyari and Auchandi. The units were discharging their untreated chemical effluents directly into drains, hence polluting the Yamuna.

Varun Gulati, a Delhi-based environmentalist, raised the issue of illegal denim dyeing units with the HSPCB regularly and filed several complaints on various platforms.

Varun said these illegal units were under the ‘red’ category and were directly polluting the Yamuna by releasing untreated effluents into drain number 6 in the Kundli area. Meanwhile, scores of industries in Bahadurgarh and Ferozepur Bangar village in the Kharkhoda area near the Auchandi border were also discharging untreated effluents into the Mungeshpur drain, which meets the Najafgarh drain at Nangli Sakrawati in Delhi, hence polluting the Yamuna, he added.

Varun further alleged that all these dyeing units were operating without any consent to operate (CTO) and consent to establishment (CTE) from the HSPCB and were even extracting a huge quantity of water without obtaining valid permission from the Haryana Water Resource Authority (HWRA).

Each denim dyeing unit was extracting over 2.5 lakh litre groundwater and after its use for bleaching, the same was discharged into the drains.

Praveen Yadav, SDO, HSPCB, said our teams got several complaints and carried out special inspections at these illegal units from time to time and initiated action against them regularly. “In all, 32 illegal dyeing units were closed within the past two-and-a-half months. Of these, 25 units are in the Kundli area and six on the Auchandi border. Their power connections have also been snapped on the spot,” Yadav added.

He said a special drive against these illegal units was underway and action would be initiated regularly.

Crackdown on

After getting several complaints, our teams carried out inspections at these illegal units… Their power connections have also been snapped. Meanwhile, a special drive against these illegal dyeing units is underway and action will be initiated regularly. Praveen Yadav, SDO, HSPCB