The Haryana Government has once again sought an additional year to clear the massive Bandhwari landfill site on the Gurugram-Faridabad border, prompting Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal to direct officials to complete the remediation work within the next 12 months.
The landfill site, which has remained under scrutiny for years due to repeated fires, leachate contamination, environmental hazards and civic complaints, has missed multiple cleanup deadlines since 2018. Even as remediation efforts continue, fresh dumping of municipal waste from Gurugram and Faridabad has added to the burden at the site.
During his visit to the Bandhwari waste disposal plant on Thursday, the Union Minister reviewed the ongoing garbage disposal and bio-remediation work and instructed officials to accelerate the process.
He directed authorities to submit a detailed daily progress report every 24 hours to ensure continuous monitoring of the cleanup operation.
At present, two agencies are engaged in waste disposal and remediation work at the landfill. Stressing that there should be “no laxity” in the process, Khattar directed officials to deploy additional agencies so that the waste mountain could be cleared within the stipulated timeframe.
The minister also asked officials to identify a separate site for the disposal of fresh waste to ensure that new dumping does not obstruct the clearance of the legacy waste already accumulated at Bandhwari.
Following the inspection, Khattar chaired a high-level review meeting at the PWD Rest House with senior officials from Gurugram and Faridabad.
During the meeting, he said sanitation and waste management remained the primary responsibility of municipal corporations and should be treated with the highest priority.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent review of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the minister said the Centre aimed to develop 50 cities across the country into clean and well-managed urban centres.
“Cities become the identity of a country, and visitors from abroad first see these urban centres,” he said, while stressing the need to maintain world-class cleanliness standards.
Reiterating that the Bandhwari landfill must be completely cleared within a year, he assured officials that any hurdles affecting the remediation work would be resolved immediately.
To strengthen monitoring and transparency, the minister directed officials to conduct regular drone surveys of the landfill site. He said modern technology would help track both the pace and quality of the remediation process.
The minister also reviewed Gurugram’s sanitation system and instructed officials to ensure that garbage was not visible at any public place in the city. He suggested dividing all municipal wards into seven zones and assigning officers of the rank of Additional Commissioner and Joint Commissioner to monitor each zone for better accountability.
He further directed officials to implement sanitation measures in mission mode to provide residents with a cleaner and healthier urban environment.
