Photos: Gurugram’s Bandhwari landfill raises health and social concerns

Updated On Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

A 40-foot mass of untreated, un-segregated municipal waste at Bandhwari landfill, located few kilometers from the settlement has for years degraded the local air, water and soil, and altered the social fabric of the community. Locals have attributed a high incidence of cancer and other inexplicable illnesses among villagers to contaminated groundwater and have also blamed the stigma of the landfill for a lack of marriage proposals for the village’s young men. A waste-to-energy plant, scheduled to become operational at the site by August 2019 however holds the promise of a better future. The Bandhwari waste plant, the city’s only landfill, has been defunct after a fire in 2013. Still it collects over 900 tons of waste from Gurugram and Faridabad on a daily basis.

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With an estimated population of more than two million people, Gurugram generates an average of 900 metric tons of waste per day, most of which end up in the Bandhwari landfill. This towering landfill located only 20kms from the city has triggered a public health crisis in the surrounding villages, degrading local air, water and soil, and altering the social fabric of the community. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

With an estimated population of more than two million people, Gurugram generates an average of 900 metric tons of waste per day, most of which end up in the Bandhwari landfill. This towering landfill located only 20kms from the city has triggered a public health crisis in the surrounding villages, degrading local air, water and soil, and altering the social fabric of the community. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Residents of Bandhwari, Manger and Dera – settlements near the landfill – have reported a high incidence of cancer. Locals estimate that there have been at least 100 cancer-related deaths in the region since 2013, after a fire mishap left the waste management plant at the landfill defunct. The municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad have since continued to dump tones of untreated municipal waste at the site daily. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Residents of Bandhwari, Manger and Dera – settlements near the landfill – have reported a high incidence of cancer. Locals estimate that there have been at least 100 cancer-related deaths in the region since 2013, after a fire mishap left the waste management plant at the landfill defunct. The municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad have since continued to dump tones of untreated municipal waste at the site daily. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Angrez Singh, 70, a resident of Bandhwari is undergoing treatment for cancer. At least 13 instances of cancer-related deaths in the village that have taken place in the last eight months have been independently verified by HT. According to Roop Chand, a local from nearby Mandi Village, who is a retired army doctor and cancer survivor, contaminated groundwater, is responsible for the problem. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Angrez Singh, 70, a resident of Bandhwari is undergoing treatment for cancer. At least 13 instances of cancer-related deaths in the village that have taken place in the last eight months have been independently verified by HT. According to Roop Chand, a local from nearby Mandi Village, who is a retired army doctor and cancer survivor, contaminated groundwater, is responsible for the problem. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Karam Singh Tanwar whose wife died of cancer shows the poor quality of the village’s borewell water. Tanwar ,who along with Chand carried out an informal survey to ascertain the nature and extent of cancer prevalence, said that he had managed to identify at least a dozen families in Bandwari who have lost a member to cancer over the last year and a half. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Karam Singh Tanwar whose wife died of cancer shows the poor quality of the village’s borewell water. Tanwar ,who along with Chand carried out an informal survey to ascertain the nature and extent of cancer prevalence, said that he had managed to identify at least a dozen families in Bandwari who have lost a member to cancer over the last year and a half. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Chandaram Chaudhary, sarpanch of Manger village shows one of the last few borewells in the village. Soon after the survey, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram conducted a screening camp in response to the public health scare. Of the 247 people tested, 27 were found to be suffering from hypertension and another six from diabetes mellitus. A subsequent press release dismissed any possibility of a cancer outbreak. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Chandaram Chaudhary, sarpanch of Manger village shows one of the last few borewells in the village. Soon after the survey, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram conducted a screening camp in response to the public health scare. Of the 247 people tested, 27 were found to be suffering from hypertension and another six from diabetes mellitus. A subsequent press release dismissed any possibility of a cancer outbreak. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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“At one point, the water from our wells used to be sweet. Now, we cannot drink it anymore,” said Lala Ram, resident of Bandhwari. A primary reason for the contamination of groundwater is improper waste management inside the landfill. Activist Vivek Kamboj explained that the landfill is in direct contact with the soil, which would allow the leachate to percolate into the ground. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

“At one point, the water from our wells used to be sweet. Now, we cannot drink it anymore,” said Lala Ram, resident of Bandhwari. A primary reason for the contamination of groundwater is improper waste management inside the landfill. Activist Vivek Kamboj explained that the landfill is in direct contact with the soil, which would allow the leachate to percolate into the ground. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Dr. Suman Kumari, who has been posted in Bandhwari since 2012, said women have become particularly susceptible to gynaecological problems. “I have seen an increasing number of female patients suffering from irregular periods, polycystic ovarian disorder, excessive bleeding and abdominal pain. I also see more children complaining of chronic headaches, diarrhoea, and nausea.” (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Dr. Suman Kumari, who has been posted in Bandhwari since 2012, said women have become particularly susceptible to gynaecological problems. “I have seen an increasing number of female patients suffering from irregular periods, polycystic ovarian disorder, excessive bleeding and abdominal pain. I also see more children complaining of chronic headaches, diarrhoea, and nausea.” (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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A view of the leachate treatment plant within the Bandhwari landfill premises. This waste-to-energy (WTE) plant scheduled to become operational by August 2019, holds the promise of a better future. In addition to the existing boundary wall, a six-metre-high concrete barrier will be constructed around the garbage heap to minimise the environmental impact of the landfill. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

A view of the leachate treatment plant within the Bandhwari landfill premises. This waste-to-energy (WTE) plant scheduled to become operational by August 2019, holds the promise of a better future. In addition to the existing boundary wall, a six-metre-high concrete barrier will be constructed around the garbage heap to minimise the environmental impact of the landfill. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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The WTE site which has been contaminated with leachate from the landfill. Environment analyst Chetan Agarwal expressed scepticism about the plant. The site lies upstream from Gurugram, and contaminants found in the leachate move toward the city at the pace of half or one metre a day.“Soon, areas along the Golf Course Road Extension will face the same predicament that the residents of Bandhwari are going through now,” he said. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

The WTE site which has been contaminated with leachate from the landfill. Environment analyst Chetan Agarwal expressed scepticism about the plant. The site lies upstream from Gurugram, and contaminants found in the leachate move toward the city at the pace of half or one metre a day.“Soon, areas along the Golf Course Road Extension will face the same predicament that the residents of Bandhwari are going through now,” he said. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Dharampal, 70, a resident of Bandhwari village suffers from chronic respiratory distress, which he said is because of the degrading air quality in the region. While the leachate contamination has irreversibly polluted the water table, high quantities of methane released from the unsegregated waste not only pollute the air but also make the landfill prone to fires. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Dharampal, 70, a resident of Bandhwari village suffers from chronic respiratory distress, which he said is because of the degrading air quality in the region. While the leachate contamination has irreversibly polluted the water table, high quantities of methane released from the unsegregated waste not only pollute the air but also make the landfill prone to fires. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Not only health issues, residents of Bandhwari complain that outsiders treat them as ‘untouchables’, not because of their caste but due to a 37-hectare garbage dump near their village. According to locals, the landfill has fuelled a social crisis in the village with a significant number of men in the village between 20 to 30 years of age facing problems in getting marriage proposals from outside the village. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Not only health issues, residents of Bandhwari complain that outsiders treat them as ‘untouchables’, not because of their caste but due to a 37-hectare garbage dump near their village. According to locals, the landfill has fuelled a social crisis in the village with a significant number of men in the village between 20 to 30 years of age facing problems in getting marriage proposals from outside the village. (Yogendra Kumar / HT Photo)

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Residents of seven villages during a Mahapanchayat against the plant at Hanuman Temple in Bandhwari. The landfill has provided common ground to people across castes who have joined hands in protest against the landfill. Even though the removal of the garbage dump may not resolve the marriage squeeze which is largely due to the gender imbalance across the state, the locals firmly believe that it will. (Parveen Kumar / HT Photo)

Updated on Jul 03, 2018 02:30 pm IST

Residents of seven villages during a Mahapanchayat against the plant at Hanuman Temple in Bandhwari. The landfill has provided common ground to people across castes who have joined hands in protest against the landfill. Even though the removal of the garbage dump may not resolve the marriage squeeze which is largely due to the gender imbalance across the state, the locals firmly believe that it will. (Parveen Kumar / HT Photo)

News / Photos / News / Photos: Gurugram’s Bandhwari landfill raises health and social concerns

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