News: Residents Allege Sewage Dumped in Dwarka Expressway Drain-18-07-2026

People in New Palam Vihar say private septic tankers empty untreated sewage into a stormwater drain beside the Dwarka Expressway daily, through an unauthorised opening made by damaging part of the drain near the Sector 110 entry. Dozens of tankers reportedly arrive each day and discharge there rather than at authorised sewage treatment plants (STPs), allegedly to avoid treatment charges. Residents want vehicles seized, operators booked and environmental compensation imposed.

Resident Bharat Nain alleged drivers earlier broke a drain slab section to dump, that the tankers usually come from inside New Palam Vihar, and that they continue despite repeated requests. Advocate Seema Nain, also a resident, said the drains exist for rainwater harvesting and that dirty water entering them and being reused elsewhere poses serious environmental and health risks.

Locals say it is an old problem. In 2020, complaints that hundreds of tankers were dumping into a drain near Sector 111 brought in the National Green Tribunal’s Yamuna Monitoring Committee after an HT report, and similar complaints about vacant plots and drains in new sectors came up in 2023. The practice violates the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and the Centre’s National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management, which says private tankers must carry septage only to designated treatment facilities.

Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) sub-divisional officer (SDO) Vishal Shokeen said no formal complaint had come in, so the board is unaware and cannot act; for tankers from residential areas, GMDA is responsible. He added that a committee to monitor illegal dumping of untreated STP water will likely be approved within 15 days. GMDA spokesperson Neha Sharma said only the pollution board, not GMDA, can fine operators. Asked who owns the drain, GMDA and HSVP each blamed the other.

GMDA is the district’s metropolitan planning and infrastructure agency, handling arterial roads, bulk water, trunk sewerage, stormwater drains and major mobility projects. MCG is the municipal body for sanitation, solid waste, internal roads, streetlights and local water and sewerage. Earlier this year, the Union government rebuked MCG over untreated sewage entering Yamuna-linked drains and ordered audits of sewer infrastructure and illegal drain connections.