Villagers to move HC against Bandhwari waste plant

GURUGRAM: After chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar brushed aside environmental concerns about the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant to be set in Bandhwari, residents of five nearby villages have decided to move the Punjab and Haryana high court. A case against the WTE plant is already going on in the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
According to the villagers, a writ petition will be filed in the high court within this month and a meeting of all the villages — Gwal Pahari, Bandhwari, Baliyawas, Ghata and Ullawas — is scheduled for this Sunday to chart a course of action. “It has been over a month and there has been no development on the ground from the government. The CM tried appeasing us with some incentives, but those are nothing compared to the damage that we have suffered and that this plant will cause to thousands of lives,” said Ram Rajan, sarpanch of Bandhwari village.

Around a month ago, the CM had rubbished all the environmental concerns as ‘matters of perception’. On the day of the launch, Khattar announced sops for villagers, including a road project to link Bandhwari with Sector 57 and a visit to Ecogreen plant in China.

“We went to meet PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh last week and he told us to wait till we visit China. But we are not interested in visiting China. We want the tonnes of waste to be moved from here as it is contaminating our water and soil,” said Dheeraj Tanwar, a resident of Gwal Pahari.

MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav could not be reached for a comment.