NGT fines Haryana Govt for not clearing dumping site

CHANDIGARH: The Government of Haryana was fined Rs 100 crore by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for violating the rules governing the handling and disposal of legacy solid waste at the Bandhwari landfill site in Gurugram. This fine is to be paid as ‘environmental compensation.’ The site at Bandhwari, which is used to dispose of waste from Faridabad and Gurugram, has accumulated a huge amount of waste of roughly 33 lakh MT of residual trash creating a huge dump that is about 38 metres high.

The Gurugram Municipal Corporation was able to treat 19.43 lakh MT of legacy waste through bioremediation and 10 lakh MT through biomining. The entire 33 lakh MT was supposed to be treated by July 31, according to reports from the joint committee established by the NGT dated March 25 and August 3.

The Haryana Chief Secretary was ordered by the NGT Bench, which was chaired by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (retired), to deposit Rs 100 crore within a month, for use by a nine-member committee. The committee will be made up of the Chairman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), urban local bodies, the Deputy Commissioners of Faridabad and Gurugram, the Commissioners of the Gurugram and Faridabad civic bodies, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, and a Regional Officer of the Central Pollution Control Board.

The NGT has requested that the relevant authorities should avoid dumping new waste in Bandhwari. It has stated that the committee will be free to communicate with the stakeholders and work with the statutory regulators to penalise those responsible for the pollution.