Villagers protest before NGT in Delhi against Bandhwari plant

The NGT was hearing a plea on moving the waste treatment plant away from the forest area and Aravalli hills

Bandhwari village residents on Tuesday protested on the National Green Tribunal (NGT) premises on Copernicus Marg in New Delhi against the solid waste management (SWM) plant in the area scheduled to start operations soon.

Around 30-35 senior citizens of Bandhwari village held a protest on the NGT premises in Delhi on Tuesday.

The plant, located along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road in Aravalli hills, stopped working in 2013 after a fire incident, but waste dumping continues, said the villagers, adding that it has polluted the groundwater.

The tribunal heard a plea on Tuesday by environmentalist Vivek Kamboj and Amit Chaudhery seeking directions to relocate the Bandhwari waste treatment plant and landfill site away from the forest and Aravalli hill area.

The next hearing is on Wednesday and villagers are planning to hold a massive protest on the NGT premises. On Tuesday, around 30-35 senior citizens of the village visited the NGT and demanded complete closure of the plant. They alleged that dirty, black water from the plant is collecting in depression areas in the Aravallis, affecting the area.

“Earlier, the civic authorities promised us that our village will not be affected by the plant in any way. However, the reality is different,” said Mahavir Tomar, a villager.

Another village resident, Mangal Tanwar, said, “We came to inform the tribunal that the plant is destroying our forest. The authority should shift the structure elsewhere. The Aravallis are a critical water recharge zone, which is being polluted. We cannot breathe fresh air and our children are falling ill because of the contaminated water.”

Vaishali Rana Chandra, an activist and Valley View Estate resident, who was present at the court during the hearing, said, “Starting operations of the SWM plant will be a destructive idea for the Aravalli hills. We showed the tribunal water from the landfill. It must have percolated into the ground as the dumping took place in a mining pit.”