The Basai wetland, spread across 260 hectares, was discovered as a birdwatching destination in 2001 when ornithologist and author Bill Harvey made a pit stop at the Basai railway track, en route the Sultanpur National Park. A 2001 field report of the Delhi Bird Club mentions that the Basai wetland is spread over an area bigger than Sultanpur national park, a landmark bird sanctuary a few kilometres further down the Gurugram-Sultanpur road in Haryana.

In May 2017, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) granted permission to a construction company to set up a construction and demolition (C&D) waste treatment plant on a 3.5-acre plot in the wetland. The plant is estimated to treat over 500 tonnes of waste every day. The then Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar laid the foundation stone of the plant on 17 June 2017.

On 22 June, a Delhi-based non-profit, Delhi Bird Foundation, filed a petition at the National Green Tribunal (NGT), stating that thousands of birds will lose their habitat if the C&D plant is constructed. The petitioner had sought a stay on the project contending that the Basai wetland, though not declared a wetland under the 2010 Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules, was a valuable water body.

In July 2017, the NGT ordered a status quo after taking note of the adverse impact of the C&D plant on the water body, namely, water pollution as a result of dumping of waste. However, on 10 January 2018, the NGT lifted its stay on the construction of the plant after perusing the revenue records and noting that the land in question has not been identified as a wetland by the Haryana government.

More than 240 species of birds such as Marbled Teal, Sarus Crane, Black-necked Stork and Asian Dowitcher visit the wetland for their annual migration. Flamingos and Black Francolin, the state bird of Haryana, that were once common in the wetland are now rare visitors because of regular dumping of plastic and other waste even before the construction of the C&D plant has begun.

According to the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, MCG officials claim that the area where the plant is coming up is degraded land and not a wetland at all.

A study on the Basai wetland, published in the International Journal of Economic Research in October 2017, highlights how wetlands help in maintaining a healthy balance between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and is a major source of groundwater recharge. The Basai wetland is critical to a city like Gurugram, which faces frequent flooding almost every monsoon. An open space like a wetland provides relief from waterlogging in the concrete jungles.

Basai wetland also qualifies to be declared a Ramsar, site which implies that it has international importance, according to a 2004 survey by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History. Citing a Central Groundwater Board report on all water bodies in the area being a source of groundwater recharge, the survey also stated that Basai wetland was important to Gurugram at a time when the city's groundwater level was falling at an alarming rate.

In December 2018, NGT vacated the stay on the construction of the plant. In December 2019, MCG started the plant and is now planning to expand the plant's capacity of waste management.

MCG Commissioner Amit Khatri was quoted as saying, "We have taken steps to solve this problem and C&D waste management unit has been started by IL&FS at Basai. The processed waste will be used in making tiles, bricks, crushers, etc."

Over the years, individuals and organisations have continued to protest against the rampant construction that is eroding the Basai Wetlands. Pankaj Gupta of the Delhi Bird Foundation, who led the case at the NGT against the waste plant, told The Hindu in 2022 that the plant continues to "choke the wetland."

At a stone’s throw from the glitzy malls of the Millennium City, the 250-acre shallow wetland has shrunk to a quarter of its original size over the years. Home to 300-plus species of rare, common and migratory birds, Basai is recognised as a key biodiversity area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Wildlife Institute of India and the BirdLife International, a global network of NGOs that work to protect bird habitats.

Till a decade ago, the Basai wetlands was a top birdwatching destination where the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) had documented 281 species of avian population. But the number of species has steadily declined with each passing year, according to Pankaj Gupta of Delhi Bird Foundation.

Gajinder Bains, a bird watcher, also told The Hindu in 2022 that even though the "population of birds have dwindled, they are still coming in hopeful numbers." However, he added, “We need to prevent further encroachment with immediate action if we want to save Gurugram’s bird paradise."

Most recently, in November 2025, Birders organised a walk at the Basai wetland to launch a movement urging the Haryana government to conserve the area, TOI reported.

"We used to see that in 2001, there were lots of migratory birds. Now, because of the heavy construction near the Dwarka Expressway, the area is completely dried out," Selvarajan, chairperson of Green Circle, a non-profit that has organised the ‘Save Basai Wetland' campaign, told TOI in 2025.