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.
asserted
him → kneel → state
“Everything gets ruined when dust settles on the soil,” says Gurjar, 53, barely looking up.
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Gurjar → ruin → soil
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“May God make everything right,” replies his wife between bouts of chronic cough.
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wife → consume → cough
“Otherwise, it becomes difficult to grow crops.”
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it → become → crops
The Gurjars are among nearly 5,000 people living in the vicinity of what has turned out to be one of the most unusual tourist destinations in India.
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what → live → 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.
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yard → resemble → state
Locally known as a “Snow Yard”, the landfill in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district is the largest of its kind in Asia.
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landfill → know → Asia
Its pristine white hills and slopes with water-filled pits provide a surreal backdrop for visitors, who get free entry to the site.
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who → fill → site
Newlyweds pose against the snowy backdrop or the blue artificial lake, while couples soon to get married organise pre-wedding photoshoots.
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couples → pose → photoshoots
Social media influencers throng the landfill to make reels.
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influencers → throng → reels
Music videos and movies are also frequently shot here.
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videos → shoot → ?
“Everyone, right from my five-year-old niece to my mother, loves it very much.
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Everyone → love → mother
Their first impression was that this looks like Kashmir,” Salim Shahzada, a businessman from Uttar Pradesh state, told Al Jazeera, referring to Indian-administered Kashmir.
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Shahzada → look → Kashmir
Shahzada said he had visited the place a couple of times and decided to bring his family along this time.
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he → say → family
But he had no idea about the health and environmental problems linked to the dumping yard.
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he → have → yard
“I do not have much knowledge about this place or its ill effects.
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I → have → place
I only know that this is where marble cutting waste is dumped and that the hill itself is made of this waste,” he said.
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he → know → waste
Kishangarh, a marble and granite hub, is home to nearly 1,200 processing units, with the total daily business estimated at more than 160 million rupees ($1.7m), providing jobs to about 25,000 people, according to the Federation of Indian Granite and Stone Industry.
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business → estimate → Industry
Every day, nearly 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 people living nearby, has turned into a health hazard.
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which → carry → hazard
Gurjar said the yard has affected residents in at least six villages.
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yard → say → villages
“How many problems can I even tell you about?
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I → tell → you
If there were just one or two, we could deal with them,” he said.
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he → be → them
“But here, almost everything is going wrong because of the dumping yard.
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everything → go → yard
People like me are suffering from chest infections, dental problems and skin allergies.
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People → suffer → infections
It does not matter whether they are children or elderly people; everyone is suffering.”
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everyone → matter → ?
Gurjar said he and his wife are forced to take regular medicines for chest infections or skin problems.
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he → say → infections
Aditi Goyal, a general physician at Ajmer’s Ganga Narayan Hospital, said the residents of Kishangarh face several health risks, mainly respiratory and skin problems.
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residents → say → risks
She said the workers in the marble processing units are more vulnerable to chronic illnesses because of prolonged exposure to toxic dust.
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workers → say → 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 told Al Jazeera.
“
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Goyal → increase → Jazeera
People in Kishangarh, who are mostly farmers, also suffer from infections caused by dust coming from the soil,” she said, advising people to wear masks to protect themselves from dust.
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she → suffer → dust
The same dust settles on the fields, hardening the soil and making it difficult to grow crops.
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it → settle → crops
A study led by Laxmi Kant Sharma, professor in the department of environmental science at the Central University of Rajasthan, found that the concentration of lead silicate in Kishangarh’s soil was several times higher than normal, indicating extreme contamination.
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concentration → lead → contamination
“Since the waste particles are smaller than 75 micrometres, they can spread far and wide, making the soil infertile,” the study said.
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study → spread → micrometres
The study also found that the concentration of PM2.5 exceeds the limit of ambient air quality standards.
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concentration → find → standards
“Several people may be suffering from silicosis.
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people → suffer → silicosis
The government needs to take immediate action to prevent the situation from getting out of hand,” it said.
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it → need → hand
Ugam Singh, another resident of Bhogiyawas, remembers when things were different.
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things → remember → Bhogiyawas
The continuous dumping of slurry slowly changed the landscape and the lives of people in Kishangarh, says the 65-year-old.
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old → change → Kishangarh
“Nowadays, the situation has worsened to such an extent that even the groundwater is no longer fit for consumption,” Singh said.
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Singh → worsen → consumption
“The fluoride levels in the water are so high that it tastes salty.
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it → taste → water
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
