Gurgaon: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed MCG to spell out a comprehensive action plan for handling and remediating waste at the Bandhwari landfill, after noting that no such plan exists even as the dumpsite continues to receive thousands of tonnes of garbage daily.Taking note of the submission of an applicant, a bench of the green body said on Wednesday, “MCG in its next report will also indicate the action plan.”The tribunal — while hearing a batch of matters related to waste management and repeated fires at the landfill — allowed the request of the counsel for MCG, who sought four weeks’ time to file the response to a report submitted by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), filed on March 9, on the implementation of interim measures at the site. The matter will now be heard on July 7.Besides a suo motu case, initiated following a news report on repeated fires at the site, petitioners include Poonam Yadav and Vivek Kamboj. Spread over about 28.9 acres and rising nearly 38 metres, the landfill continues to receive around 2,200 metric tonnes of waste every day despite lacking a full-scale waste treatment facility.The bench, headed by NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Dr Afroz Ahmad, noted the CPCB’s detailed report, which outlined the guidelines and directions issued by the board and the status of their implementation by MCG as of Feb 27. The report also included recommendations for managing the landfill.During the hearing, counsel for the applicant pointed out that no comprehensive plan was prepared so far for managing and remediating the waste being dumped at Bandhwari. The Bandhwari landfill has long been under the NGT’s scanner over issues of waste mismanagement, leachate leakage and widespread environmental damage. In Nov last year, the tribunal pulled up Haryana govt for failing to comply with earlier directives, even as toxic leachate continued to spill into adjoining green areas. It directed the state principal secretary (environment) to explain the delay and imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the state for seeking more time to file a compliance affidavit.Earlier inspections flagged that leachate from the site was overflowing through kutcha drains into plantation areas and forming stagnant pools, with concerns that it could spread to agricultural fields during heavy rain.
