Will launch mass agitation if govt opens Bandhwari plant: Villagers

GURUGRAM: Residents of five villages — Bandhwari, Gwalpahari, Mandi, Dera, and Mangar — have threatened to carry out mass agitation against the Bandhwari waste management plant when Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is proposed to visit the site to inaugurate the waste-to-energy plant.
This, following information given by sources on Saturday that CM Khattar is set to inaugurate the plant in the second week of April. Residents claim the plant will cause severe air and water pollution in the neighbouring areas.

Mangal Tanwar of Bandhwari village in Gurugram, one of the agitators, said, “It’s shameful. The Haryana CM is coming to inaugurate the plant. We’re all against. Groundwater in the locality has already been polluted by leachate from garbage dumped here. Now, we’ll also face severe air pollution. We plan to put up a big, peaceful agitation demanding the plant’s reallocation. How can authorities carry on with a project when a case against it is being heard in the National Green Tribunal (NGT)?”

Residents of Mangar village in Faridabad, and Mandi and Dera villages in Delhi have assured their support to the agitation. “It’s our democratic right to protest against something that’s destroying our lives. NCR’s only sacred grove, Mangar, where we worship trees and water bodies, is also under threat. I can’t believe this is set to be inaugurated by the chief minister himself. Why do we have to suffer for waste produced by cities?” asked a villager in Mangar, requesting anonymity.

Activists said authorities announced the plant’s inauguration even though its approval is pending with the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF). “At the March 21 public hearing held by Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), authorities concluded the meeting although less than 1% of Bandhwari residents had turned up. Minutes of the meeting weren’t shown to the public. They are not even waiting for MoEF approval. It seems the public hearing was an eyewash, that the authorities are hand-in-gloves with the private firm engaged to build the plant and are trying to rush through its inauguration,” said Vaishali Rana Chandra, an environmentalist who lives in the Valley View society near the plant site.

After the March 21 meeting, HSPCB officials prepared a yet-to-be-presented report for the MoEF Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) committee. Residents demanded another hearing, as only 33 locals had turned up for the earlier one.

Responding to the complaints, MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav told TOI, “The waste-to-energy plant is a solution to the current landfill. It will reduce the waste. I don’t think there will be any issues with MoEF. We’ll follow all norms to ensure an environment-friendly plant, which will reduce problems faced by villagers.”