Sewage discharge: Haryana asked to give details on steps

New Delhi: Haryana government was Monday directed by the National Green Tribunal to file afresh the details of the steps taken by the state to resolve the issue of discharge of untreated waste into a Gurgaon village.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the state government to file a fresh affidavit after the counsel representing village Khalilpur, where the sewage was being dumped, contended that status reports submitted by Haryana were wrong as it had denotified the land it acquired for the purpose of diverting and storing the untreated waste. Haryana government, however, claimed that it had acquired around 10-11 acres of land and it has only denotified the land which is at a higher altitude, pursuant to an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. After hearing contentions of both sides, the tribunal fixed the matter on November 29 by when Haryana government has to file its affidavit stating how much land it had acquired, how much of it was released or denotified with the reason for the same. It has to state where the untreated sewage waste will be stored with its distance from village Khalilpur along with a topographical map of the area. Haryana government had earlier assured the tribunal that the villagers` grievance would be resolved after facing the NGT`s ire on a couple of occasions for not complying with its orders to not dump sewage into the village. The tribunal was hearing the plea of the inhabitants of Khalilpur village who had contended that about 80 per cent of the untreated sewage generated from Rewari district was being dumped into their pond. The villagers had also alleged that the dumping was being done at the behest of Haryana minister Ajay Yadav, an allegation which has been refuted by the state government. On May 16, the tribunal had directed that the sewage treatment plant in Rewari district be "completed positively within six months" and that sewage discharge into the village "shall not be permitted".