‘Leachate spillage from Bandhwari landfill impacting wildlife in Aravallis’

The wildlife department has written to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), warning against spillage of leachate from the Bandhwari landfill into the surrounding Aravalli forests.

The department’s notice to the MCG, reports the Hindustan Times, urges the civic body and Ecogreen Energy, its concessionaire for waste management, to rectify the issue, failing which prosecution may be initiated as per the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

The notice also warns that the wildlife department’s no objection certificate (NOC), which had been granted for setting up a waste management plant at the site, also stands to be revoked in case of continued violations. The area is a well-known wildlife habitat, which is the home to leopards, hyenas, hedgehogs, monitor lizards, black partridges, peafowls, cobras, jackals and mongoose.

Ecogreen Energy has denied any wrongdoing on its part.

Leachate samples collected from the landfill site have been sent for testing to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board’s headquarters in Panchkula.