Leachate cleaning at Bandhwari plant to begin next week

Acting on the order of the National Green Tribunal, the Municipal Corporation Gurgaon has formed a committee to oversee the removal of leachate flowing into the Aravalli forest area from the defunct Bandhwari plant. The plant is located along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road near Asola Sanctuary, considered to be ecologically significant.

Acting on the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Municipal Corporation Gurgaon (MCG) has formed a committee to oversee the removal of leachate flowing into the Aravalli forest area from the defunct Bandhwari plant. The plant is located along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road near Asola Sanctuary, considered to be ecologically significant.

he plant is located along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road near Asola Sanctuary, considered to be ecologically fragile. (HT File Photo)

Sources said senior MCG officials held several meetings with forest department officials over the past week to discuss strategies for clearing the site.

Officials from the corporation said from next week, earthmovers, tractors and labourers will be deployed at the site. Engineering department officials will use suction machines to ensure that pollutants in leachate are separated. Then, a storm water drain will be built on the periphery of the plant to ensure that garbage residue is diverted.

“Basic modalities for carrying out the cleaning work has been initiated. The work at the site is expected to commence next week,” said Amit Khatri, additional MCG commissioner.

The move to form a committee comes days after the green court asked the civic body to submit a report on the ground realities at the waste treatment plant within 15 days.

Environmentalists claim that continued dumping of waste at the 32-acre plant has polluted aquifers around the site, leading to the contamination of the groundwater in south Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

The plant was built to process and segregate garbage from Gurgaon and Faridabad in October 2011. But it has the capacity to handle only 600 tonnes of garbage every day. But since the plant stopped functioning in 2013, it his being used as a landfill, with the waste lying there untreated. It receives 800 tonnes of garbage every day since its closure.