Army Officer Flags Sector 106 C&D Waste Centre

GURUGRAM: A proposed construction and demolition waste collection centre in Sector 106 has drawn a written protest from a senior Army officer, who has told the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram that the site could become a public health hazard for nearby residents and a nursery school.

Lt General PS Shekhawat, chief of staff of the South Western Command and colonel of the Mechanised Infantry Regiment, wrote to MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya earlier this week. He said he plans to move into his condominium in Sector 106 next July after superannuation. In the letter he noted that the proposed centre sits in a densely populated residential pocket of Sector 106 and Babupur village, with a residential complex barely 100 metres away.

Nursery wall, trees and Master Plan

"The site shares a boundary wall with an approved nursery school. The likely increase in noise, dust and heavy vehicle movement poses serious health and safety concerns to young children," the letter said. Shekhawat also flagged the lack of a properly paved concrete access road, warning that heavy vehicles would kick up more dust. He argued that Sector 106 is marked residential under the Gurugram Master Plan 2031, so a C&D storage or processing facility appears inconsistent with land use, and that building the centre would remove hundreds of trees on the plot. He urged MCG to reconsider and order an independent assessment.

Residents have already taken the proposal to the National Green Tribunal, calling a waste facility next to societies environmental negligence. The next NGT hearing is scheduled for November. Sector 106 resident Yash Varmani said people should not be forced to live amid dust and debris in a pocket ringed by housing. MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya did not respond to media calls and messages by the time the letter was reported.

The fight is now on two tracks: a resident petition before the NGT and a high-profile letter pressing the commissioner on land use, school proximity and trees. Until MCG answers on relocation or mitigation, Sector 106 societies remain opposed to trucks and debris storage at their boundary.

C&D collection points are not optional for a city that generates demolition waste from redevelopment and road works, but siting them inside residential sectors has repeatedly drawn objections on Dwarka Expressway-side maps. Shekhawat's letter adds an official land-use and school-safety frame to arguments residents have already put before the tribunal. The November NGT date means MCG cannot treat the file as closed merely by staying silent on a media query; either a site defence or a relocation note will eventually have to meet both the commissioner desk and the green bench.