GURGAON: MCG’s plan to appoint two private agencies for door-to-door waste collection, segregation, and transportation of municipal solid waste in the city has hit yet another roadblock.The opening of bids for the Rs 315.2 crore tender – initially scheduled for March 23 – has now been pushed to March 27.Though MCG officials attributed the postponement to “administrative reasons”, the delay in the process – which has dragged on for months – has raised serious questions about administrative efficiency and the city’s worsening sanitation crisis.However, sources said that the request for proposal (RFP) is likely to be revised once again by the directorate of urban local bodies (DULB), suggesting that the tender process itself remains far from finalised.In a letter issued on Feb 27 by the ULB department, the state clarified two issues raised by bidders during the pre-bid process – the clause related to bulk waste generators (BWGs) and the mechanism for annual escalation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). A pre-bid meeting held on Feb 9 saw participating firms raise several technical and financial queries about provisions in the RFP. Following this, MCG sought clarifications from the ULB department on Feb 17, which led to the delay in opening bids.With the waste management system already under strain, complaints about uncollected garbage and poor sanitation are pouring in. Councillors say they are being inundated with calls and messages from residents demanding immediate action.Ward 11 councillor Kuldeep Yadav said, “It is already more than a year that the tender has not been finalised for a city like Gurgaon. Complaints are pouring in from residents of Hans Enclave, Nitin Vihar, Naharpur Rupa, Shiv Colony, besides other areas. This is the most urgent issue that the MCG needs to pay attention to. What is causing the delay in finalising the tender for door-to-door waste collection?”Ward 4 councillor Pardeep Padam said, “The city is already struggling with waste piling up in several areas. Every delay only makes the situation worse. In my area, garbage collection is irregular, and in the areas where collection is happening, it is being collected in rickshaws. For a city like Gurgaon, what could be worse than the fact that the city does not have a system in place for waste collection? These are basic civic amenities.“He added, “I have raised this issue with the MCG officials at the meetings, in writing. However, nothing is being done to improve the situation. Residents have been coming to me with complaints only. There is garbage strewn across the entire ward.”Bhawani Shankar Tripathy, a resident of Sector 23A, said, “Door-to-door waste pick-up has become irregular in the adjacent village Carterpuri and the two unauthorised colonies, due to which waste is being dumped on the roadsides in Sector 23A. Waste pick-up from the roads in our sector is not happening.”It was in Jan this year that the Haryana govt granted revised administrative approval for the Rs 315.2-crore door-to-door municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and transportation project in the city after months of delays and repeated tender revisions.The approval was granted following months of complaints about garbage pile-ups, irregular waste collection, and growing public frustration. This situation began in June 2024 when MCG terminated its contract with Ecogreen due to poor performance.A one-year replacement agency also failed, forcing the civic body to rely on temporary arrangements that residents have described as inconsistent and ineffective.The approval process has also raised concerns about inefficiency within the urban local bodies department. The first RFP for the door-to-door waste collection project was issued on July 12, 2024.Since then, the RFP was revised five times, on May 14, June 10, Sept 25, and Dec 5, 2025, after the contract period was initially extended from five to seven years on Jan 7, 2025, before reverting to five years.A one-year replacement agency also failed, forcing the civic body to rely on temporary arrangements that residents have described as inconsistent and ineffective.The lengthy approval process has also raised concerns about inefficiency within the urban local bodies department.
