Shillong: Marten landfill wall cracks; residents want dumping halted

Residents of Mawlai Nongkwar in Shillong have asked the government to stop dumping at the Marten landfill and find another site, at least temporarily, after an inspection found a damaged retaining wall, garbage spilling onto the road and dark leachate running off the site.

The Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF), Mawlai Circle, inspected the landfill at Mawlai Nongkwar Block-13 with local residents on Friday following repeated complaints, The Shillong Times reported.

What the inspection found

Waste has overflowed the dumping area and reached the adjoining road, according to the report. The retaining wall has visible cracks, and residents fear it could give way in heavy rain and put houses below at risk. They say foul-smelling black water from the site drains towards the Umiam during rain, and blame the constant stench for illnesses in the area.

HNYF Mawlai Circle president Sanbor Rapsang said visitors to Shillong smell Marten before they reach the city, an embarrassment for a state that sells itself as a tourist destination. He invited ministers to spend a week living next to the landfill, offering to arrange their stay, and urged the authorities to act before the wall collapses or someone is hurt.

E. Rangslang of the Mawlai Nongkwar Block-13 Seng Samla said the landfill had troubled residents for years, but the cracked wall had turned it into an urgent safety worry. Residents can raise the alarm, he said, but fixing it is the government's job.

Demands

• Immediate suspension of further dumping at Marten.
• An alternative dumping site, even a temporary one.
• Repairs before the retaining wall gives way.

A long-running problem

Marten, in use since 1938 and spread over about 18 acres, is the only landfill for the Shillong urban agglomeration and nearby villages. It handles roughly 171 tonnes of solid waste a day, the state's Urban Affairs minister told the Assembly in March 2025, when he also said the land, part of the Riatkhwan Reserved Forest, was leased from the Forest Department with an extension until 2026.

The government said at the time that a 112-acre plot at Nonghali, about 47 km from Shillong, had been identified as a possible site for a new scientific landfill. In November 2025, The Shillong Times reported that garbage at Marten had piled up well above the retaining walls and that contaminated water was reaching the Umiam through roadside drains; the Shillong Municipal Board said then that compost, processing and bio-mining work could not extend the site's life because everything was built on old waste. Earlier wall collapses after heavy rain have sent garbage into the reservoir, prompting the High Court of Meghalaya to step in.

There was no immediate response from the Shillong Municipal Board or the Urban Affairs department in the report. NEInsider will update this story if the authorities respond.