Gurgaon: A mounting garbage crisis has put MCG on the defensive.A councillor has threatened to stage a dharna if a secondary waste collection point on the highway is not cleared within 10 days.“If the Beriwala Bagh secondary waste collection point is not cleared within 10 days, I will sit on a dharna along with the public,” Ward 28 councillor Dharambir Bhangrola said during Friday’s House meeting at Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA).At the meeting, some councillors tore into the civic administration over what they alleged was a glaring gap between short-term sanitation contracts being approved on paper and work being delivered on the ground.The confrontation came as House considered final approval of finance and contracts committee (F&CC) decisions, including short-term contracts for doorstep waste collection and road sweeping and cleaning.Councillors questioned how payments and contracts could be moving ahead when, according to them, sanitation vehicles and workers were barely visible on the ground.One of the sharpest objections came from Bhangrola, who said his ward needs at least 10 vehicles for sanitation operations.He said this when F&CC approval of a short-term sanitation tender amounting to Rs 4.3 crore came up for discussion.He said that residents were still facing uncleared garbage months after the work was allocated.“The works were allocated in July and now it is Sept and there is no work happening on the ground. Garbage is not being cleared but payments are made to these contractors,” he said.On this, MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said payments to contractors were being made on the basis of their GPS reports. Dahiya asked MCG executive engineer Sunder Sheoran, responsible for sanitation across the city, to take note of the requirement of Bhangrola’s ward and provide the waste collection vehicles to him.But councillors continued to question the disconnect between official records and conditions on the roads.Dahiya said, “The garbage problem has been compounded by the ongoing construction work at the Carterpuri and Khandsa secondary waste collection points. Waste is being diverted to Beriwala Bagh because of the work at those sites, increasing the pressure on the already burdened facility.”Councillors, however, said the situation had gone beyond an operational inconvenience. They alleged that illegal dumping had become a menace for residents, with garbage-laden vehicles and waste piling up at dumping points and along roads and highways.Another councillor, Satpal (ward 6), said he had complained about illegal construction and demolition waste dumping in Daultabad a year ago, but the complaint remained unresolved.The developments expose a wider problem for the city: while sanitation contracts are being approved and contractor payments are being tracked, councillors say residents continue to see overflowing waste and inadequate collection and sweeping on the ground.“The residents of several parts of the city are suffering due to garbage dumping on the roads. They have been approaching me for an agitation,” added the ward 28 councillor.At the House meeting, several issues were discussed. House also approved the proposal of giving 1,445 square metres of land in Sector 7 to construct the entry and exit of the metro station at Sector 7.A matter concerning the removal of caste indicators, in connection with a complaint before National Human Rights Commission, was also discussed during the meeting.House approved the formation of committees to take necessary action in the matter. MCG House also constituted 14 ad hoc committees, including sanitation and public health, accounts and audit, vigilance, etc.Mayor Raj Rani Malhotra described the increase in the number of sanitation workers and waste-collection vehicles, the transfer of 272 acres of govt land in Wazirabad to Municipal Corporation, the removal of a 40-year-old encroachment from Sukhrali Lake, and the improvement of various water bodies as “historic victories” for the corporation.The mayor also launched six vehicles, which will run across the city and conduct patch work to fix potholes as and when the complaints arise.
