Gurgaon: Forest land in Khori from which encroachments were removed is now strewn with waste, raising concerns over environmental damage and whether the cleared area is being protected. Mixed waste has been dumped across an open stretch surrounded by vegetation, bringing the focus back on whether the land cleared during the eviction drive is being monitored.UD Gujjar, a Khori resident, said, “Around 10 truckloads of garbage by Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) had been dumped on the land and that waste was being unloaded at night.” He also pointed to garbage accumulating at several other locations in the area.“It is the same site where MCF removed settlement and now they are dumping waste. This area falls within the same forest land covered by Supreme Court’s order,” said Rahul Bhadana, another resident.“We will write to MCF regarding the issue and take action. Non-forest activities in forest land will not be tolerated,” a Haryana forest department official said.TOI contacted MCF for its response, but commissioner Yashendra Singh had not responded at the time of filing.Supreme Court had ordered the demolition of all structures in Khori village, a settlement in Faridabad that came up over several years by encroaching on protected Aravali land. In its June 7, 2021, order in Sarina Sarkar & Ors. vs State of Haryana & Ors., the court directed MCF to remove all encroachments from the forest land within six weeks.The corporation’s CEO and forest department secretary were asked to oversee implementation and submit separate reports on the action taken. The state and police were directed to support the eviction, including forcible removal where necessary, with the Faridabad superintendent of police responsible for ensuring police protection.The dumping also highlights the challenge of protecting cleared land in Aravalis from fresh encroachment and other damaging activities. In Dec 2021, environmentalist Lt Col Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi (retd) had approached Supreme Court alleging that construction was continuing on protected Aravali land despite court orders in the Khori case.In the affidavit, Oberoi cited a farmhouse in Ankhir, Faridabad, to argue that “illegal farmhouses are again booming in Aravalis”. While that concern was about illegal construction, the fresh dumping raises a separate question about how cleared land is monitored.Meanwhile, the municipal corporations of Gurgaon and Faridabad have been struggling to scale up garbage management capacity and find alternative land for waste treatment facilities despite several directions. The two cities add 2,200 MT of garbage every day to Bandhwari landfill, near Mangar on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road. In 2022, National Green Tribunal directed MCG and MCF to stop dumping fresh waste at Bandhwari and clear legacy waste within a specific time frame.
