Forest dept issues notice to MCG for damage to Aravalli area from leachate

GURGAON: Forest department has issued notice to Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) for damage to forest areas by leachate flowing from Bandhwari waste treatment plant. The department pointed that toxic leachate from the waste treatment plant has done extensive damage to the flora and fauna of the forest apart from polluting the ground water aquifer of the entire Gurgaon region.
“This is clear violation of Indian Forest Act, 1927 and Forest Conservation Act, 1980,” said forest department in its notice to MCG.The notice was issued following inspection of Bandhwari forest area by senior forest official on August 16. The forest department was receiving complaint about the flow of leachate in forest area and damage to environment.
“During inspection it was found that leachate was flowing from waste treatment plant to adjoining forest area. The groundwater of the area is at risk of getting polluted with the leachate and it will affect the wildlife as well,” said conservator of forest (Gurgaon circle) MD Sinha adding that aquafer of the Aravalli and the region is interlinked and pollution of groundwater at one place can polluted the groundwater of entire region in long run.
A senior MCG official said they keep on cleaning Bandhwari waste treatment site twice in a month but cleaning was not done more than a month due to monsoon. “This is temporary arrangement and not the solution. We are working on decentralisation of waste collection and disposal as solution to this problem,” said the MCG official adding that they have already implemented decentralised waste treatment at pilot level in ward 6.
Social activist Ruchika Sethi, who works for waste management in civic areas, said given all the notification and MSW rules, they expect MCG to not look at landfilling as prime solution for managing municipal waste. “The landfill site and waste treatment plant at Badhwari is an eco-fragile zone and it has started to affect environment and groundwater,” said Sethi adding that waste dumping is causing problem and efforts should be made to stop contamination of groundwater.
Elaborating about the solution, Sethi said according to first scientific waste mapping done by Haryana government in May 2015, most of the waste generated from Gurgaon is organic in nature. “If it is segregated and treated nearest to the source, it will reduce the transportation cost and there will be no requirement for landfill site,” said Sethi.
Environment activist Vivek Kamboj, who has filed petition before NGT last year for relocation of Bandhwari waste treatment plant and landfill site away from the forest and Aravali hill area, said municipal corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad are disposing waste in at Bandhwari waste treatment plant, which is closed for last two years. “The continuous dumping of waste, which is not being treated for last two years, is generating leachate resulting in groundwater pollution,” said Kamboj adding that groundwater of the nearby villages has already been polluted, if steps were taken then entire aquifer of the region will be get polluted.
In its three-page affidavit, filed on the direction of NGT after carrying ground inspection, CGWA has agreed to most of the allegation related to unscientific dumping of waste in Aravalli by municipal corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad, leachate contaminating the ground water and polluting the surface of water, leachate has already poisoned the ground water and poses threat of contamination of ground water in Gurgaon, Delhi and Faridabad for future generations.