NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued a notice to the Haryana government over a report which claimed that untreated toxic waste from a landfill site in Gurugram was "spilling into nearby villages" in the Aravalli area, officials said.
It has asked the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to submit a report on this matter within six weeks.
"The NHRC has issued a notice today to the government of Haryana, after taking suo motu cognisance of a media report about untreated toxic waste from a landfill site at Bandhwari village in Gurugram, spilling into nearby villages in the Aravalli area.
"The state government has been asked to submit a report on the matter within six weeks. It should include the steps taken/proposed to be taken to deal with the hazard," the rights panel said in a statement.
The commission has observed that the media report, if true, amounts to a violation of human rights due to negligence of public authorities.
According to the media report on June 8, a legal battle is on since 2017 to address this issue but the residents of the nearby villages continue to suffer.
If the hazardous discharge from this landfill site of untreated waste spills over only after a few hours of rain, it can be imagined what the situation will be during the monsoon, the statement said.
The Central Pollution Control Bureau, in its report on the matter in 2017, had found that the groundwater of three villages around the landfill site was contaminated, it said.
"The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute has also confirmed that the contamination had spread to two more neighbouring villages.
"But there has been no forward movement in improving the situation and it is posing a threat to the health of the people residing in the area as well as flora and fauna of the forest area," the statement said.