Bandhwari plant raises a stink as leachate flows into Aravalis again

Gurgaon: Leachate is reportedly flowing into the Aravalis again from the defunct waste treatment plant at Bandhwari, prompting green activists to demand a criminal case against the lax authorities that seem to have failed to check environmental hazards in the zone.

Local villagers alleged that a portion of the boundary wall had been broken to allow waste and leachate to spill over into the forests on the left side of the plant.

A TOI team visited the defunct plant on Thursday and found that leachate was indeed overflowing at the plant, deteriorating the already grave situation at Bandhwari where people have been complaining about unbearable stench and contaminated underground water for quite some time now.

In fact, in its report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in September, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) claimed to have found that the groundwater in Bandhwari, Mangar (Faridabad) and Dera (Delhi) were polluted to such a level that it was unfit for drinking.

But even after a month, nothing seems to have changed on the ground.

"The stench has increased tremendously in the past 15-20 days here. Sanitation workers at the plant are simply lifting the waste from the plant and dumping it behind the plant. They have also razed a portion of the boundary wall as there is no other way to control leachate overflow inside the plant. Breaking of the wall allows leachate to flow to a bigger area," said a sanitation worker requesting anonymity.

Ragini Jain, who was appointed by MCG as a consultant to manage the plant, admitted that leachate formation had increased in the last one month or so. "Till September, waste was being treated using bio culture with minimum water. Then, waste was not treated for almost 4-5 weeks. And now, three times more water is being used for waste treatment. Shockingly, they are also using pesticides and insecticides to kill flies at the site. It can lead to severe pollution of soil and groundwater in Bandhwari," she said.

Vivek Kamboj of NGO Haryali, who had filed a petition in the NGT in 2016 alleging contamination of groundwater due to leachate formation at the defunct plant, said, "Event after CPCB's report on the groundwater contamination, MCG has not done anything to prevent the environmental and health hazards. I think criminal action should be taken against the corporation. The corporation has misled the court by asking for more time, only to cause more and more pollution in the area."

He reiterated his demand for re-allocation of the plant from the ecologically-sensitive Aravalis.

Located off the Gurgaon-Faridabad road, Bandhwari waste treatment plant has been lying defunct since 2013. However, municipal corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad dispose of over 1,600 tonnes of mixed waste at the plant every day, resulting in dirty black water, also called leachate, which flows into the Aravalis and underground.

According to a 2008 Central Ground Water Board report, groundwater from Bandhwari flows outwards in all directions, which is why it's a major recharge zone for all of Delhi and NCR. The aquifers of the whole region are inter-connected, so contamination of groundwater in Bandhwari would ultimately lead to contamination of groundwater of the entire region.

When contacted, MCG commissioner Uma Shankar told TOI that the waste management plant had been handed over to a company, Ecogreen, on September 21.

Ankit Aggarwal, CEO of Ecogreen, said, "We have taken all measures to dry the leachate at the plant. I think the situation has improved from what it was earlier. Also, we are working on installing a leachate treatment plant, which is likely to be functional after three months. We will treat the leachate and use the treated water inside the plant itself. We are working day and night to build and implement sustainable large-scale solutions for handling waste for the entire city."