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Garbage dump raises stink in Millennium City
The residents say about 43 tonnes of solid waste collected from all over the city are daily dumped illegally at a vacant plot near DLF City Phase I. Sanjeev K Ahuja reports.
More than 100 residents of DLF City—including retired IAS officers, corporate honchos, IT professionals, academicians, housewives and students—on Sunday blocked traffic for about an hour on the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road protesting the illegal dumping of garbage near their homes.
Shouting slogans against the district administration and the civic agencies, they said the demonstrations would continue till their demands were met.
The residents say about 43 tonnes of solid waste collected from all over the city are daily dumped illegally at a vacant plot near DLF City Phase I by contractors of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and other civic agencies.
For the last two years, thousands of residents of DLF City (Phase I) continue to live with the foul smell emanating from the illegal garbage dump. "Trucks of HUDA and MCG have been dumping the garbage illegally at this site for two years now with least regard for hygiene and health of the people. It has been happening despite the fact the Haryana government has acquired 30 acres of land for creating a solid waste management plant," said Prabhat Agarwal, managing director of a known IT firm and a resident of G Block, DLF City.
Agarwal said: "Up-market condominiums such as Aralias and Magnolias, where each apartment costs around Rs 8 to 10 crore, are not more than 500 metres from the garbage-dumping site," he added.
According to Haryana government officials, Rs 50 crore has been earmarked for setting up of a solid waste management plant and 30 acres of land had already been acquired for this project.
Superintending engineer of HUDA Punkaj Kumra said tenders would soon floated. "We have been dumping garbage along the Faridabad Road but we spray chemicals to check foul smell. Spraying had stopped for the past 2-3 days as the contract had ended. We will soon award a new contract," he added.
