After NGT order, officials discuss state of landfill site

“We were instructed very strictly to organise material recovery facilities in at least five locations,” said an MCG official.

Following instructions from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which ordered the chief secretary to Haryana government to intervene in the “sorry state of affairs” at the Bandhwari landfill site, the director of Urban Local Bodies (ULB), Haryana, on Friday addressed officials of the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad as well as members of Ecogreen Energy, their concessionaire for waste management. Sameer Pal Saro, director, Haryana ULB, said that specific responsibilities would be assigned to each officer involved in waste management, and that each of them would be held accountable for lapses in duty. Saro also stressed on the need for Ecogreen Energy, MCG and MCF to work as a team in resolving the pollution crisis at Bandhwari, stated a press release issued by the MCG on Friday.

Inside the Bandhwari landfill site in Gurugram, India. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

According to an MCG official who was present at the meeting, but requested anonymity, “We were instructed very strictly to organise material recovery facilities in at least five locations.”

Ecogreen Energy has also committed to ensuring three more of these facilities begin work at the earliest, the official said. Material recovery facilities are essentially plants that are fitted with technology capable of separating recyclable materials from the bulk of waste generated, thus ensuring that only materials that are no longer useful are landfilled. Such facilities are integral to successful waste management.

Saro also stressed the need to formulate a plan not just for decentralised waste segregation, but also waste treatment. He suggested that bulk generators must treat their waste on site.

As for the landfill’s leachate problem, it was discussed that in addition to the leachate treatment plant which is currently operational, a second mechanical vapour recompression system be installed on site to treat it.

Officials also discussed the need to conduct fresh tests to ascertain the quality of air and groundwater in the landfill’s vicinity. Competent institutes for the same will be fixed by Tuesday, according to the MCG’s official statement.