Thanks to rampant construction activities in Gurugram and Faridabad and lack of any plans to deal with the waste, the forests are witnessing a dumping of around 2000 tonnes of C and D waste on daily basis leaving them gasping for breadth,reports Aayush Goel
Having struggled with illegal mining, diminishing tree cover and official apathy for decades, Aravalis in South Haryana has the final nail in its coffin: Illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste.
The ‘forest’ covering 30,000 hectares of South Haryana spread across five districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Mewat, Mahendargarh, and Rewari is fast turning from an endangered green lung or water recharge zone to acres of debris covered dump yard. All thanks to rampant construction activities in ever evolving Gurugram and Faridabad and lack of any plans to deal with the waste, forest is losing its last bit shred by shred. According to authorities, around 7000 construction projects are currently on in Gurugram and Faridabad with former accounting for almost 5000. These include not just mammoth societies or government infrastructure upgradation like flyovers, roads etc but also demolition and reconstruction of properties across the city. Gurugram, like any urban disaster, is going ahead commercialising and concretising and not caring about the dealing with by product which is dumped rampantly across roads, empty plots, green belts and then ultimately in Aravalis. The forests, according to environmentalists, are witnessing a dumping of around 2000 tonnes of C and D waste on daily basis which is pushing it towards its ultimate death. “The forest has been converted into dumpyard. Day and night, trolleys carrying tonnes of non-biodegradable debris come and dump here. The debris is concretising the forest, degrading the sand quality and killing existing flora and fauna and aquifers. When there are forces trying to save the dying forest, this unchecked dumping is defeating the purpose,” said Jatinder Bhadana of Save Aravali Trust.
Gurugram biggest culprit
The city has been under-construction since what seems an eternity now. Ask any resident, construction activities are apparently a never-ending phenomenon. Be it highways or infrastructure upgrade or foot over bridges, development of new residential sectors or housing projects or rampant illegal constructions in every single lane and street, it has become an inevitable part of their lives.
The city has, as per Municipal Corporation survey, been producing 2500 tonnes of debris each day. While as per norms it is the responsibility of the builder to arrange for its disposal and treatment but lack of enforcement has given way to one of the biggest mafia in NCR (National Capital Region) : The dumping mafia being run by local contractors, goons and even councillors. These tractor, trolley and arms equipped men go around city collecting debris at whooping 5,000 to 7,000 rupees a trolley and dump it in Aravali. While local residents of forest try to protest but they can’t do much. Things had taken a hopeful turn during Lockdown in 2020 when a Haryana IAS officer Vinay Pratap Singh spearheaded the move to clear the waste. The authorities with help of its contractor Pragati Natural Resources Private Limited went on to clear around one lakh twenty five thousand tonnes of construction and demolition waste in last seven months making it highest annual clearing ever in NCR . The amount stood at meagre 4643 tonnes in 2019. The move won authority laurels and it even made to NITI Aayog’s report asking other cities to follow the suit but this was short lived as the authorities grew lackasidical in 2021 and ever since Aravalis is going down the drain.
