The groundwater around Gurugram’s Bandhwari landfill site has been rendered unfit for human and animal consumption, with every single water and leachate sample collected over the past 12 months failing laboratory tests — an indictment of years of regulatory non-compliance by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram that has now drawn prosecution cases, mounting fines and National Green Tribunal intervention.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board has imposed a total environmental compensation of Rs 6.3 crore on the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram for violations at the Bandhwari landfill site since April 2020, at the rate of Rs 10 lakh per month, in compliance with NGT orders. Of this, the MCG has deposited only Rs 2.80 crore, leaving Rs 3.5 crore unpaid.
Under Pollution Control Board norms, a technical team collects water and leachate samples every month from the landfill site, surrounding tubewells and borewells, and sends them to a government laboratory for testing. All 80-plus samples collected over the past year have failed on every parameter — with chemical compounds and heavy metals found at several times the permissible limit.
Scientific studies have confirmed that contaminants from the landfill site have made their way into the groundwater of surrounding areas, with parameters including total dissolved solids, total hardness, chemical oxygen demand, and heavy metals including cadmium and lead exceeding both Bureau of Indian Standards and World Health Organisation limits — despite the quartzite geological setup and deep aquifer structure of the area.
The NGT has flagged that no arrangements for proper leachate treatment existed at the site and that leachate was instead being released into manholes leading to public sewers without testing, in violation of Environmental Protection Rules. The MCG had claimed the landfill generates about 200 kilolitres of leachate per day but data from the Behrampur sewage treatment plant showed only 125.2 kilolitres was received in June 2025 — raising concerns about large volumes of leachate being unaccounted for.
Environmentalists allege that toxic leachate is being dumped openly into the Aravalli forests. Flowing down the hills and slopes into forested areas, the contaminated liquid is not only threatening wildlife but also slowly percolating into the water table. Residents of Bandhwari, Gwalpahari and Mangar villages have reported a sharp rise in cases of cancer, skin diseases and gastrointestinal illness, which they directly link to contaminated water sources. They warn that with the monsoon approaching, the situation could worsen as rainwater carries leachate into adjoining NCR areas.
The clean-up of the landfill has repeatedly hit roadblocks. Two firms contracted to process legacy waste were sacked and fined Rs 9.02 crore for non-performance — having processed just 2.31 lakh metric tonnes of a 14 lakh metric tonne target, a mere 16.5 per cent, before their deadline expired in July 2025. Legacy waste disposal is now not expected to be completed before 2028.
Urban Local Bodies Minister Vipul Goel said the government would review all reports related to the Bandhwari site and that agencies contracted for the work would be penalised for non-performance.
A senior official of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board said leachate disposal at Bandhwari was being carried out as per norms, adding that if any agency continued to show negligence, action would be taken. MCG Executive Engineer Sandeep Singh Sihag maintained that leachate was being disposed of in compliance with rules.
