Gurugram civic bodies told to stop waste dumping in drains

At a meeting between the Environmental Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) and representatives of the Delhi government and the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Monday, the state pollution control body was directed to ensure that its civic agencies, namely the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), implement steps to prevent unauthorised dumping of waste in water bodies.

The instruction comes on the heels of an action plan submitted by the Delhi government for cleaning up and desilting drains, after it was reprimanded by the EPCA for the same last month.

HSPCB member secretary S Narayanan on Monday said, “The meeting focused primarily on Delhi’s plans to clean up its drains and we were asked to follow their example. The HSPCB submitted that in Gurugram, district authorities like the MCG and the GMDA, have their own plans in place, that they are in process of being implemented, and we will oversee them.”

In December, the GMDA had published on its website an action plan to restore the city’s primary drainage network, known as the Badshahpur drain.

This plan came after multiple orders by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) calling for better safekeeping of Gurugram’s drains. Since then, it has also issued tenders to clean up and desilt the city’s sewers ahead of the upcoming monsoon season.

Meanwhile, the MCG is also in the process of allotting tenders to a private contractor for the upkeep of almost 500kms of arterial drainage networks before the rains, confirmed multiple executive engineers on Monday.

About two weeks ago, during another meeting convened by the EPCA, the HSPCB was reprimanded for its poor performance in terms of submitting environmental reports, taking action against polluting activities and violations of environmental laws, and collecting poor quality environmental data.

The HSPCB will now have to ensure stricter vigilance and greater enforcement of the law in the case of the above action plans. According to local environmentalist Vaishali Rana Chandra, “This will have to go beyond merely sending orders to the local authorities. Enough show cause notices have been sent by the HSPCB to the municipal corporation, but violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules is still rampant,” she said.

Chandra also argued that the GMDA’s action plan, which the authority says has been drawn in conformity with NGT rules, is actually in clear contravention of the same.

“The action plan proposes concretising majority of the drain, which is against the court’s instructions,” she said. However, GMDA officials maintained that concretising the drain was necessary for safety reasons, and that the plan would be altered if a suitable authority, such as the NGT, recommends it.

First Published: Feb 26, 2019 05:34 IST