MCG may miss another deadline to flatten Bandhwari landfill

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is likely to miss the April 2024 deadline to process legacy waste at the city’s Bandhwari landfill

Updated on: Dec 13, 2023, 05:20:18 IST

By Leena Dhankhar

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The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is likely to miss the April 2024 deadline to process legacy waste at the city’s Bandhwari landfill. The deadline is likely be to extended till December next year, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

An earth moving machine on the Bandhwari landfill site at Gurugram-Faridabad Road. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

MCG officials said that due to the ongoing strike by sanitation workers, the civic body has started a mega cleanliness drive and the collected waste is being taken to Bandhwari. This has overburdened the private agencies with an additional 200 tonnes of garbage. The functioning of the processing units have been affected and this will pose a hurdle in meeting the deadline, officials added.

MCG sanitation workers have been staging a nearly two-month strike to press for their several demands, including an increase in salary.

With no alternate plans, MCG is still dumping waste at the Bandhwari landfill apart from six material recovery facilities (MRFs), they said. An MRF is a centre where glass, plastic, metal, paper, cardboard, and rubber waste materials are segregated and handed over to MCG empanelled scrap dealers for recycling.

Naresh Kumar, joint commissioner of MCG, said, “The protesting workers were not letting private agencies to collect waste from many areas. So, garbage was seen littered on the roadsides of market areas as well as waste collection points at Basai, Khandsa and Chakkarpur. We have deployed 300 contractual workers in areas where heaps of garbage are lying for weeks. With the current situation we will not be able to meet the April deadline,” he said.

On December 30 last year, to resolve the issue of excess legacy waste at Bandhwari, a state committee that was constituted by the National Green Tribunal decided that from February 15 this year, 70% of fresh waste generated in Gurugram and 50% of garbage from Faridabad will not be sent to the landfill. The deadline was extended till March 31 and then to April 2024, which has now been extended to December, said officials.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leena Dhankhar
Leena Dhankhar is Senior Editor and Bureau Chief, Gurugram, at Hindustan Times, where she has spent over 17 years chronicling the transformation of one of India's fastest-growing urban regions. From starting her career as a crime reporter to leading the Gurugram bureau, her journalism has been defined by investigative reporting, in-depth storytelling and an unwavering focus on public interest. Over nearly two decades, she has reported extensively across crime, politics, civic governance, elections, real estate, environment, courts, sports, education and entertainment, covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh and Palwal. Her reporting has exposed several major scams and systemic failures, including insurance frauds, waste management irregularities, illegal arms manufacturing units in Nuh, illegal mining in the Aravallis, organised crime networks and governance lapses affecting millions of residents. Known for her investigative work and exclusive stories, Leena has reported on high-impact national issues, including the Nicaragua charter flight carrying Indian migrants that was turned back amid allegations of human trafficking, exposing the growing network of illegal immigration rackets. Her work has also focused on gang wars, prison administration, juvenile crime, women and child protection systems, the functioning of the Juvenile Justice Board and Child Welfare Committee, and environmental challenges such as pollution, waterlogging and deteriorating civic infrastructure. Beyond hard news, Leena has extensively documented Haryana's rich heritage, forests and wildlife, bringing attention to the state's historical landmarks, biodiversity, conservation efforts and ecological challenges through immersive reportage and feature writing. Her journalism has consistently gone beyond breaking news. She has documented Gurugram's rapid urbanisation through long-form narratives and enterprise reporting on issues ranging from pothole-ridden roads, flooding and waste management to the changing social fabric of India's Millennium City. She also writes widely read feature columns, including The Outsider, Changemaker, and Concern for Gurugram, profiling people, places and ideas shaping the city's identity. Leena is the author of Gurugram School Murder, published by Juggernaut Books, a deeply reported account of one of India's most high-profile school murder investigations. She is currently working on her second book, an investigative work exploring some of India's most significant scams and fraud investigations. Beyond print journalism, she has expanded her storytelling through public speaking and digital media. She is a TEDx speaker and has produced podcasts exploring Gurugram's transformation, civic challenges and untold stories. Her work reflects a commitment to narrative journalism that combines rigorous reporting with compelling storytelling. A law graduate with an MBA in Human Resources, Leena brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her reporting, particularly on governance, public policy and legal affairs. She has travelled extensively across India to pursue investigative assignments, often reporting from remote locations and conflict-prone areas in search of stories that matter.Read More