Dharuhera, one of Haryana’s key industrial hubs, has turned into an illegal industrial waste dumpyard.
Spread over 400 acres, the industrial township on the Haryana-Rajasthan border is battling a deep environmental crisis as empty plots, roadside stretches and green belts are being used to illegally dump industrial waste, effluent treatment plant (ETP) sludge and sewage.
The Industrial Model Township (IMT), Dharuhera, spread over 424 hectares across Sectors 15, 16 and 17 along NH-48, sits 40 km from Gurugram and roughly an hour from the IGI Airport. Developed by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, it houses over 320 operational units in automotive components, engineering and FMCG, employing around 21,000 workers.
The industrial area has over 40 villages around it and houses many labour colonies as well. Over the past few months, residents and industrialists have been complaining about the complete collapse of waste management as industrial and chemical waste is not just being discharged on plots and roadsides but is also being set on fire in broad daylight.
Dharuhera frequently figures among the most polluted areas in the NCR.It recorded a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 123 µg/m³, breaching national air quality standards on 77 per cent of days in October, making it India’s most polluted city that month. The residents say rampant open waste burning was a major contributor then, and the same unchecked disposal culture is now spilling into solid and liquid waste dumping, compounding an already fragile environmental record.
For the workers employed across the township’s units, conditions on the ground are worsening in tandem. Open dumping sites near residential and worker-housing clusters are triggering persistent foul odour, a sharp rise in mosquito breeding and growing complaints of skin and respiratory irritation among those living closest to the affected plots.
The residents allege that waste and ETP sludge from several units are being dumped in the open instead of being scientifically treated, while private tankers are discharging sewage and suspected industrial effluent at unauthorised sites. Environmental experts warn that if this waste is not cleared before the monsoon, chemical run-off could seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater across the township and adjoining villages.
They further add that despite multiple past representations on the issue, no effective enforcement action has followed, calling it a failure of the monitoring and regulatory mechanisms at the HSPCB, HSIIDC and district administration levels. The Dharuhera Industry Association has separately lodged its own complaint over the sanitation crisis, adding weight to demands for urgent intervention.
Prakash Yadav, a social activist from Kharkhoda village who filed the original complaint with the CPCB, HSPCB, HSIIDC and the district administration, said, “This is an environmental emergency being ignored for years. We need joint inspections, mapping of illegal dumping sites, scientific testing of groundwater and soil, and action under the polluter pays principle before it is too late.
A Dharuhera Industry Association representative said sanitation was the biggest crisis facing the township, with empty plots turning into dump yards not just for solid waste but chemical and industrial sludge as well, adding that numerous complaints had been made without results.
Industry Minister Rao Narbir Singh, responding to queries on the matter, said the issue had been flagged to him and would be reviewed on priority. “I have taken note of the complaints coming from Dharuhera. I will get the entire situation reviewed thoroughly. The HSIIDC, HSPCB and the district administration will be asked to jointly inspect the site. It will be resolved within 15 days," he said.
