Some stories leave a lasting impression of how slow, outdated and exhaustive our urban governance systems are in tackling the rapidly growing environmental needs of metropolitan cities like Gurugram and Faridabad. I found that a wild-goose chase between enforcement agencies and dyers has continued since the early 2000s While reporting on illegal denim-dyeing units in Faridabad’s informal settlements.
Faridabad’s district administration now plans to form a joint committee of HSPCB and municipal authorities to permanently close the polluting units. HSPCB and MCF are also in the process of initiating action against lessors of premises used for illegal dyeing houses, officials added. As per HSPCB’s inspection reports, each unit discharges 8-12 kilolitres of effluent daily.
Because of the makeshift nature of their establishments, missing ownership records and unregistered firms operating from rented or unauthorised land, although HSPCB officials claim to have shut down 100 such units since 2023, repeat offenders continue to reappear in different localities.
In 2025, the board managed to impose environmental compensation on only three units, citing what officials described as their “untraceability” and limited resources to track offenders.
