‘Like Kashmir’: How a toxic marble dump yard became a tourist spot in India

Kishangarh, India – As Bagharam Gurjar kneels to pull weeds from his maize field in western India's Rajasthan state, the sound of his wife coughing nearby makes him restless.

Key points

• Aditi Goyal, a general physician at Ajmer's Ganga Narayan Hospital, remarked the residents of Kishangarh face a number of health risks, mainly respiratory and skin challenges.
• Last year, local environmentalist Drupad Malik filed a case before the National Green Tribunal over the harmful health and environmental effects of the Kishangarh dumping yard.
• Locally known as a "Snow Yard", the landfill in Rajasthan's Ajmer district is the largest of its kind in Asia.
• Singh remarked the residents of villages surrounding the dump yard have complained to the authorities, including office-holders of the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB).
• Ram Lal, a resident of Tokra village, regarding a 15-minute drive from Bhogiyawas, appealed to the administration to find an alternative site for dumping the marble slurry.

"Everything gets ruined when dust settles on the soil, " notes Gurjar, 53, barely looking up.

"May God make everything right, " replies his wife between bouts of chronic cough. "Otherwise, it becomes difficult to grow crops."

Notably, the Gurjars are among almost 5, 000 residents living in the vicinity of what has turned out to be one of the most unusual tourist destinations in India.

Their village, Bhogiyawas, is just 6km (4 miles) from Kishangarh, where a 300-acre (121-hectare) marble slurry dumping yard resembles a snow-clad landscape, attracting hundreds of tourists every day in an otherwise arid state.

Locally known as a "Snow Yard", the landfill in Rajasthan's Ajmer district is the largest of its kind in Asia. Its pristine white hills and slopes with water-filled pits provide a surreal backdrop for visitors. This person obtain free entry to the site.

While couples shortly to secure married organise pre-wedding photoshoots, newlyweds pose against the snowy backdrop or the blue artificial lake. Social media influencers throng the landfill to create reels. Music videos and movies are additionally frequently shot here.

"Everyone, right from my five-year-old niece to my mother, loves it particularly much. Their first impression was that this looks like Kashmir, " Salim Shahzada, a businessman from Uttar Pradesh state, informed Al Jazeera, referring to Indian-administered Kashmir.

Shahzada remarked he had visited the place a couple of times and decided to bring his family along this time. But he had no idea regarding the health and environmental difficulties linked to the dumping yard.

"I do not have much knowledge regarding this place or its ill effects. I only know that this is where marble cutting waste is dumped and that the hill itself is created of this waste, " he stated.

Kishangarh, a marble and granite hub, is home to almost 1, 200 processing units, with the total daily business estimated at more than 160 million rupees ($1.7m), providing jobs to concerning 25, 000 individuals, according to the Federation of Indian Granite and Stone Industry.

Every day, almost 1, 000 tankers carry slurry from those units and empty roughly 5, 500 tonnes of waste on the government-allotted dump site, which, for the residents living nearby, has turned into a health hazard.

Gurjar remarked the yard has affected residents in at least six villages. "How plenty of difficulties can I even tell you regarding? If there were just one or two, we could accord with them, " he stated.

"But here, almost everything is going wrong since of the dumping yard. Individuals like me are suffering from chest infections, dental difficulties and skin allergies. It does not matter whether they are children or elderly individuals; everyone is suffering."

Gurjar remarked he and his wife are forced to take regular medicines for chest infections or skin difficulties.

Aditi Goyal, a general physician at Ajmer's Ganga Narayan Hospital, remarked the residents of Kishangarh face a number of health risks, mainly respiratory and skin challenges. She remarked the workers in the marble processing units are more vulnerable to chronic illnesses as of prolonged exposure to toxic dust.

"Over the last couple of years, cases of respiratory problems have increased significantly in this area because people are exposed to dust from the dumping yard, " Goyal informed Al Jazeera.

"Nevertheless, dust from industrial waste is not the only problem. Individuals in Kishangarh. This person are mostly farmers, additionally suffer from infections caused by dust coming from the soil, " she noted, advising residents to wear masks to protect themselves from dust.

For context, the same dust settles on the fields, hardening the soil and making it tough to grow crops.

For context, a study led by Laxmi Kant Sharma, professor in the department of environmental science at the Central University of Rajasthan, discovered that the concentration of lead silicate in Kishangarh's soil was a number of times higher than normal, indicating extreme contamination.

"Since the waste particles are smaller than 75 micrometres, they can spread far and wide, making the soil infertile, " the study remarked.

In practice, the study additionally identified that the concentration of PM2.5 exceeds the limit of ambient air quality standards. "A number of residents may be suffering from silicosis. The administration needs to take immediate action to prevent the situation from getting out of hand, " it stated.

Ugam Singh, another resident of Bhogiyawas, remembers when things were different. The continuous dumping of slurry gradually changed the landscape and the lives of residents in Kishangarh, notes the 65-year-old.

"Nowadays, the situation has worsened to such an extent that even the groundwater is no longer fit for consumption, " Singh remarked.

"The fluoride levels in the water are so high that it tastes salty. My teeth have began decaying and my bones have become fragile, " he continued, pointing to his teeth. It appeared pale, pitted and worn.

Singh remarked the residents of villages surrounding the dump yard have complained to the authorities, including office-holders of the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB). But their requests fell on deaf ears.

"What I have come to understand is that it does not matter which administration is in power. No one listens to the poor. To create the rich richer, the administration sacrifices the interests of individuals like us. It feels as though our lives have no value, " Singh remarked.

"Even today all we want is for this marble slurry dumping to stop so that we can breathe freely again and our fields can become green and productive once again."

Singh additionally claims that if residents of all the villages around the dumping yard were properly examined, almost every household would have someone suffering from respiratory difficulties such as asthma.

Last year, local environmentalist Drupad Malik filed a case before the National Green Tribunal over the harmful health and environmental effects of the Kishangarh dumping yard. According to The tribunal, unregulated dumping of marble slurry was contaminating groundwater and air. It directed the RSPCB to enforce monitoring, conduct sample inspections and penalise the marble processing units violating environmental norms.

Al Jazeera reached out to a senior official at the RSPCB's regional office in Kishangarh, but she refused to speak on the matter.

Central University's Sharma remarked the areas surrounding the Kishangarh dumping yard are unfit for human settlement. He remarked his research was shared with state authorities, but nothing was done to improve the environmental conditions in the area.

"There is a dire need to shift the dumping yard to another place where there is no human contact. This area has become extremely toxic and vulnerable to severe diseases. I am surprised that individuals are allowed to visit the site without masks and even have food there, " Sharma informed Al Jazeera.

As slurry is employed in tile manufacturing, "I have forwarded a number of suggestions, including installing tile units. This could, to some extent, support reduce pollution in Kishangarh, " he went on.

Meanwhile, Ram Lal, a resident of Tokra village, regarding a 15-minute drive from Bhogiyawas, appealed to the administration to find an alternative site for dumping the marble slurry.

"Kishangarh is full of slurry, and it is time to shift the dumping yard out of here to some other place where no one will suffer for at least two to three decades, " Lal informed Al Jazeera.

"We also demand that free medical camps be set up to assess people whose health has declined because of the fine dust particles that have been flying in the air and settling here for years, " he remarked.

"No one from our village can afford it if someone develops a disease that costs thousands of rupees to treat."

For now, 'Like Kashmir': How a toxic marble dump yard became a tourist spot remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.