Industrial effluents, sewage damage 100-acre green cover in Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, December 17

Green cover spread on at least 100 acres on the government land near Neemka and Mirzapur here has suffered extensive damage due to untreated sewage and industrial effluents.

FIVE acreS still waterlogged

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Around five acres of land is still waterlogged. Due to this, thousands of trees in the area have withered. Narveer Yadav, local resident

SEWAGE diverted TO AGRA CANAL

The untreated waste has been diverted to the Agra canal and a new STP, with a capacity of 80 MLD, is under construction at the site. An official, MC

An official of the district administration said the land was acquired by Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran more than three decades ago. Since it was lying vacant, it soon turned into a small forest, he added. However, at present, several trees and other fauna have either dried up or are on the verge of withering due to waterlogging caused by untreated waste released by the defunct sewage treatment plant (STP) at Mirzapur. Around 80 per cent of the trees in the area have suffered damage due to water pollution, officials of the district administration said.

Narveer Yadav, a resident of Mirzapur, said, “Around five acres of land is still waterlogged. Due to this, thousands of trees in the area have withered.”

“The STP has been out of commission for the last six years. The untreated sewage and industrial effluents were instead discharged on the vacant land,” Yadav said. The authorities concerned failed to check the damage despite a large amount of funds being spent on plantation drives, he claimed.

The discharge of untreated waste was diverted from the land just before the monsoon this year after local residents approached the National Green Tribunal. An official in the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad said the sewage and industrial effluents had been diverted to the Agra canal and a new STP, with a capacity of 80 MLD, was under construction at the site.

Meanwhile, an official of Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran said less than one-acre land was still inundated in several patches of the area. “A part of the land has been transferred for a project of the National Thermal Power Corporation and the District Jail at Neemka. The remaining land is proposed to be developed into a residential sector.”