Gurgaon: “It feels like these factories exist only for us, not for the authorities,” said Naveen Singh, a resident of Sector 5 in Faridabad. He was referring to illegal factories — or ghost factories — that have mushroomed in Gurgaon and Faridabad.Scores of industrial units are operating across the two cities without mandatory environmental permits, discharging untreated waste that eventually flows into Yamuna through a network of storm drains. These units operate out of basic brick structures topped with corrugated metal roofing, nestled deep within residential or encroached areas. A recent visit to industrial pockets — including Basai and Dhanwapur in Gurgaon and Sector 69, Surya Vihar, Sector 5 and Dheeraj Nagar in Faridabad — revealed a sprawling network of unregulated operations. The range of industries is vast, spanning from garment dyeing and milk packaging to hazardous operations like battery dismantling, e-waste handling and production of synthetic glues and sealants.With neighbourhoods already buckling under sewage overflows and illegal encroachment, the rise of these unregulated clusters has triggered a fresh wave of unchecked pollution that authorities are struggling to contain. Visual evidence from these sites highlights the sheer scale of the problem, particularly within the garment and textile sector. TOI saw outdoor drying yards where hundreds of garments, primarily heavy denim and trousers, are hung in dense rows. Residents say they were forced to live with the consequences. “Every morning, the drains run dark blue or black. We can smell the dye before we even step out,” said Sunil Dev, a resident of Basai. The presence of large blue plastic drums — standard containers for the chemicals, dyes and detergents used in industrial washing and dyeing — points to high-volume processing that lacks proper waste management infrastructure. High-capacity industrial generators and machinery sit amid piles of scattered debris and white scrap, indicating that these are not household-scale operations but sizeable industrial units running “off the grid”.In Dhanwapur, families say night-time operations are relentless.
