Gurgaon: In a span of just a few months, MCG has proposed spending nearly Rs 45 crore on two routine sanitation activities, including road sweeping and door-to-door garbage collection, with both witnessing extraordinary cost escalations. While sweeping costs have jumped 66%, the doorstep waste collection rate has risen 61% in six months.The latest figures reveal a striking pattern. MCG has floated fresh tenders to the tune of Rs 22.5 crore for road sweeping, drain cleaning and bush uprooting for six months from Aug 2026 to Jan 2027. At the same time, it has estimated another Rs 22.5 crore for door-to-door waste collection for the seven-month period from July 2026 to Jan 2027. What makes the numbers difficult to ignore is that both services were carried out at dramatically lower costs only months ago.For road sweeping, MCG floated a stop-gap contract to the tune of Rs 6.8 crore in March this year for a three-month period from April to June 2026. Since the new tender covers six months, the comparable figure would be Rs 13.6 crore if the earlier contract was extended over the same duration. Hence, MCG’s latest estimate translates into a cost increase of nearly 66%. More significantly, the comparison is drawn for the same area.The earlier arrangement covered sanitation operations across four city zones, which recently was revised to eight zones. The new Rs 22.5-crore estimate excludes zones 4 and 6, meaning the corporation is proposing to spend 66% more despite not covering the entire city.“For sweeping of zones 4 and 6, we are going to deploy MCG sanitation workers, nearly 3,000 in number,” said an MCG official privy to the matter, adding, “For sweeping estimates, the manpower will also increase, due to which the estimates have been enhanced.”The figures become even more startling when viewed alongside the corporation’s latest door-to-door waste collection tender.From Jan to June 2026, the stopgap doorstep waste collection across the city cost approximately Rs 12 crore. For the following seven months, MCG has estimated the expenditure at Rs 22.5 crore. To make the comparison on an equivalent time basis, the earlier six-month cost works out to about Rs 14 crore for seven months. Against that, the new estimate represents an increase of nearly 61%.MCG officials have primarily attributed the increase to a proposed rise in collection vehicles from around 400 to 600. However, a 50% increase in fleet strength translating into a 61% increase in expenditure has raised fresh questions about the basis of the calculations.MCG executive engineer Sunder Sheoran said, “One of the significant reasons for the increase in the estimated project cost is that we have increased the number of vehicles from 400 to 600. Another reason is the enhancement in minimum wages.”Combined, the two sanitation activities that would have cost approximately Rs 27.6 crore under earlier rates are now projected to cost more than Rs 45 crore. In other words, MCG’s expenditure on these two routine civic functions has surged by nearly Rs 17.5 crore, amounting to an overall increase of about 63% within months.“The city has not expanded. Waste generation has not doubled. The road network requiring sweeping has not suddenly grown. There has been no publicly disclosed change in the scope of work substantial enough to explain such dramatic increases,” said a councillor, requesting anonymity. The councillor raised the issue of these agencies hired by MCG for stop-gap arrangements further subletting their work. “These agencies hired by the MCG sublet their work further and this is where the accountability and efficiency of work goes for a toss. This should be stopped,” the councillor added.Some residents said the corporation should first address gaps in monitoring and service delivery before substantially increasing spending on stopgap waste collection.Rajesh Gera, a resident of Surya Vihar, said, “After Bimalraj (the agency that was hired after Ecogreen for a year) left, we have not been given any agency by the agency for our doorstep waste collection. We are managing our waste collection through local vendors, who collect waste from us and throw it on the roads. In the existing stopgap contract too, vehicles deployed are not GPS-enabled and there is no monitoring, and they are not even deployed in our area. So even if the MCG claims that the number of vehicles will be increased from 400 to 600, what is the proof that they have? There is no monitoring, no check. This increase of cost is a waste of taxpayers’ money.”The issue becomes even more significant considering Gurgaon’s sanitation history. Over the past two years, the city has repeatedly witnessed changes in contractors, temporary arrangements, extensions and emergency tenders. Despite rising expenditure, complaints regarding uncleared garbage, overflowing collection points, dirty roads and clogged drains continue to surface from multiple sectors and colonies.The MCG officials also said that the stop-gap arrangement for the doorstep waste collection would not have been initiated if the Haryana govt had given the approval to the Rs 606-crore contract for a period of five years, extended further to two years upon satisfactory performance.
