originally posted on April 20, 2016

Gurgaon: The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), in the affidavit filed on Tuesday before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has partially agreed to the allegation in a petition that the groundwater in Aravalis is being polluted by untreated waste lying near Bandhwari waste treatment plant on Gurgaon-Faridabad Road.

In its three-page affidavit, filed on the direction of the NGT, CGWA has agreed to most of the allegation related to unscientific dumping of waste around Bandhwari waste plant by municipal corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad. It also taken notice of the claims that leachate has contaminated ground water, thus affecting Gurgaon, Delhi and Faridabad water tables.

The CGWA affidavit has accepted that reports published in TOI on September 8, 2015 that the pit where a lake of leachate has been created used to be a seasonal water body of the village, and that the contamination might have even made the water carcinogenic.

The affidavit also put the onus of providing an explanation to the claims made in the petition on MCG. “Municipal solid waste management falls under the purview of the local municipal bodies. The concerned local municipal bodies are believed to be exercising their constitutional powers and functions to enforce the municipal laws/rules. The municipal bodies have since been made parties in the matter, they will explain their stand,” reads the affidavit.