Wild fox dies after drinking from water near Bandhwari

new delhi: After a wild fox on Tuesday drank from water in the forest around the Bandhwari landfill site in Gurugram and died, environmentalists have once again raised an alarm of excessive and unmonitored dumping at the landfill site poisoning its natural environment.

Officials here said that the Haryana State Pollution Control Board had collected fresh samples of the underground water from the Bhandwari landfill site, following inputs they received about leachates being released into the 30-acre area nestled around the Aravallis in the area.

While officials in the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and Eco Green insist that all required measures are being implemented to ensure the safety and sanctity of the environment surrounding the landfill site, the dumping ground does not have a clean history and officials have earlier been pulled up for allowing unabated pollution of the surrounding area.

Officials here continued to maintain that all measures were being taken to ensure the safety of the underground water in the area.

In 2017, the Central Pollution Control Board had tested the underground water in the area on directions of the National Green Tribunal and found that poisonous substances like mercury, chlorides, nitrates, manganese, calcium and other carcinogenic chemicals were way above safe levels.

Following this, a leachate treatment plant was set up at the site. However, residents in nearby villages around landfill sites that include Bandhwari, Baliawas, Mangar have continued to raise objections over how the landfill site has been affecting their health. Since 2015, villagers claim that 150 people had lost their lives due to cancer in the surrounding villages. These figures, however, have not been officially acknowledged by government agencies in Gurugram.

Significantly, noting the seriousness of the situation, the NGT has even directed the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to not dump any more garbage at the Bandhwari site but the lone landfill site in the city has already crossed its saturation limit of dumping untreated waste.

In June, it was decided that on a temporary basis the garbage generated from Gurugram would be dumped at a landfill in Farrukh Nagar but residents in the area protested this move forcing officials to take back the decision.

Gurugram's waste is now disposed of at a landfill site in Nuh, an adjoining district, under a temporary agreement with officials of both districts.