Gurgaon: What began as a closed-door meeting of the MCG House on Thursday turned into an extraordinary display of frustration over the city’s sanitation crisis, with Mayor Raj Rani Malhotra getting up from her chair and folding her hands before MCG officials to press for more sanitation workers.Councillors present at the meeting said MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya also stood up and urged mayor not to fold her hands and to take her seat. The gesture, however, was quickly echoed by other councillors, several of whom also stood up and folded their hands before the officials, demanding that the civic body urgently address the shortage of workers responsible for sweeping roads and clearing waste.MCG passed a resolution to outsource 1,800 additional sanitation workers and 108 tractor-trolleys for the city. Under the plan, each ward is to get 50 sanitation workers and three tractor-trolleys.The unusual episode came shortly after House elected ward 27 councillor Ashish Gupta unopposed as a member of finance and contracts committee (F&CC) and laid bare the political pressure building around a sanitation system that has repeatedly come under criticism.“The mayor stood up and folded her hands before MCG officials stating that she had applied all means to seek additional sanitation workforce for the city,” said a councillor, requesting anonymity.When officials assured councillors that services would improve, ward 11 councillor Kuldeep Yadav said: “We need genuine commitment, not false assurances. Don’t give us sweet capsules.”Senior deputy mayor Dharambir Bhangrola said the existing deployment was inadequate. “We have been demanding additional sanitation workers because the present deployment is simply not enough and even among those deployed, attendance is a serious concern. We need workers on the ground, not merely figures on paper,” he said.The gap between sanctioned or contracted manpower and actual deployment has repeatedly surfaced in the city. TOI reported in July that MCG had found a contractor deploying fewer workers and tractor-trolleys than required.Deputy mayor and ward 25 councillor Anoop Singh raised another problem that has long complicated waste management — the mixing of different waste streams. He said every ward should have a separate dumping point for construction and demolition (C&D) waste. “MCG can transport it to the C&D processing facility. Similarly, waste swept from roads and vacant plots should be kept separate from solid waste collected through doorstep collection,” he added.To deal with sewer blockages, silt and clogged lines, House also approved one super-sucker machine for every two wards and one jetting machine for each ward.Malhotra said the corporation’s focus had to be on delivering basic services rather than merely announcing them. “Our primary responsibility is to provide citizens with basic amenities in a timely and effective manner. The shortage of sanitation manpower has become a serious operational issue. Providing additional workers and resources in every ward is an important step, but the focus must now be on ensuring that these resources are actually visible on the ground,” Malhotra said.Dahiya said the corporation would strengthen sanitation and sewerage operations. “Additional manpower and tractor-trolleys in every ward will increase our capacity to undertake sanitation work. The deployment of jetting and super-sucker machines will also enable quicker response to sewerage-related complaints.”House also elected ward 27 councillor Ashish Gupta unopposed as a member of the finance and contracts committee (F&CC). It decided to get 272 acres of land in ward 21 demarcated, after which MCG will initiate action to remove illegal encroachments and take possession of the land. The corporation also plans to build a boundary wall around it to prevent future encroachment.
