One year on, Bandhwari landfill awaits leachate treatment plant

Officials said the proposal is awaiting budget approval, while groundwater and leachate samples continue to show contamination beyond prescribed limits.

More than a year after the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) directed the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to install a leachate treatment plant at the Bandhwari landfill, the project remains unimplemented, raising concerns over environmental safeguards at the city’s largest waste disposal site.

One year on, Bandhwari landfill awaits leachate treatment plant

Officials said the direction was issued in June last year but declined to share a copy of the notice with HT. They said the proposal is awaiting budgetary approval, and details on cost, capacity and technology are yet to be finalised. They attributed the delay of about a year to administrative procedures.

HSPCB officials said the installation of a leachate treatment plant is critical at the Bandhwari landfill as it prevents toxic landfill runoff from contaminating surrounding land and water resources.

“It has been nearly a year since we began issuing repeated reminders to the MCG regarding the installation of a leachate treatment plant at the Bandhwari landfill,” said Akansha Tanwar, regional officer, HSPCB-North, Gurugram.

The MCG had first indicated plans to install the plant in July 2025. Responding to queries on the project’s status, Preetpal Singh, joint commissioner, MCG, said a proposal seeking budgetary approval has been submitted to the higher authorities. “As soon as the proposal is approved, a tender will be floated and an agency will be engaged to set up the leachate treatment plant,” Singh said.

A leachate treatment plant is a facility designed to collect and treat leachate, a contaminated toxic liquid that forms when rainwater or moisture percolates through waste in a landfill.

Currently, in the absence of a dedicated treatment facility, leachate generated at the landfill is transported by tankers to the nearest sewage treatment plant (STP) for disposal, officials said.

Meanwhile, HSPCB officials conduct monthly inspections at the landfill, during which groundwater samples are collected from six locations in its vicinity along with leachate samples. According to officials, nearly 80% of these samples failed to meet prescribed environmental standards over the past year. The inspection found elevated levels of heavy metals and ammonia in groundwater and leachate samples, indicating contamination beyond permissible limits, according to the report.

The latest development comes days after a drone survey conducted by the MCG in May found that the Bandhwari waste dump had spread over 37.73 acres, exceeding its allotted area of 30 acres. Following the survey, HSPCB officials said another round of groundwater and leachate samples has been collected to assess the levels of toxic chemicals at the landfill.

HSPCB has not initiated fresh prosecution or issued a new show-cause notice over the continued non-compliance. Instead, it has been imposing monthly environmental compensation on the MCG for the violations, officials said.

HT had also reported on Sunday that a spot inspection found leachate ponds extending beyond the landfill boundary, while broken stretches of the boundary wall had allowed waste to spill into the adjoining Aravalli area, raising concerns over the spread of toxic runoff and its environmental impact.

Meanwhile, Gurugram-based environmentalist Vaishali Rana said sending landfill leachate to an STP is no substitute for a dedicated leachate treatment plant, as STPs are designed to treat domestic sewage, not toxic landfill waste.

“Leachate contains heavy metals, ammonia and other toxic pollutants that can contaminate groundwater if left untreated. The MCG must stop treating this as an eyewash and take concrete action,” she said.

Earlier this month, HT reported that the MCG has been paying an environmental compensation of ₹10 lakh every month since 2020 due to repeated non-compliance at the site, including the presence of leachate ponds and broken boundary walls.