First year of MCG house had only 3 meetings

A year after Gurugram's MCG was formed, residents report unresolved civic issues and only three meetings held, raising concerns about governance pace.

A year after the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) house was constituted on March 11, 2025, residents say longstanding civic issues such as broken roads, clogged sewers, waterlogging and encroachments remain unresolved, raising concerns about the pace of governance.

First year of MCG house had only 3 meetings

The MCG house, comprising mayor Raj Rani Malhotra and 36 councillors, was formed after municipal elections that were delayed by nearly two and a half years. However, civic records show that only three meetings of the house have been held so far, against the mandated 12 meetings annually. Officials said no specific reason has been cited for the delay in holding the mandatory meetings. However, several councillors said convening the meeting is primarily the mayor’s prerogative and alleged that sessions were not called regularly.

The first meeting, held on April 8, 2025, focused on passing the municipal budget. The second meeting on August 11 reviewed the 2023–24 audit report and discussed proposals including expansion of rainwater harvesting systems, installation of streetlights and establishing compressed biogas plants.

The third meeting on November 12 approved transfer of land for a health centre and discussed plans for a community centre in Sushant Lok, a sports club in Sector 46 and action against illegal dairies in wards 8 and 26.

Residents say these decisions have not resulted in visible improvements. “It has been a year since the house was formed, but the problems remain the same. Plans are being prepared on paper, but no real change is visible on the ground,” said Amit Jindal, president, RWA Vipul Greens, Sector 48. “Committees are being formed despite the house being incomplete. There should have been 12 meetings in a year, but only three were held.”

Kuldeep Yadav, councillor of Ward 11, said the delay in holding regular house meetings reflects administrative negligence. “We have repeatedly requested that house meetings be held every month as required. Hopefully, this issue will be resolved soon so that pending civic matters can be discussed and addressed properly,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep Bohra, former councillor of Ward 31, said stronger collective pressure should have been applied to ensure regular meetings and progress on development issues. “There are many councillors, NGOs and RWAs in the city, but no one strongly pressed the issue of holding regular house meetings or pushing long-pending development works,” he said.

Concerns have also been raised over the civic body remaining incomplete, with the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor still vacant, despite rules requiring elections to these positions within three months of the house’s formation.

MCG mayor Raj Rani Malhotra said several development works are underway. “Several plans have been prepared, and work has started on the ground. Around 100 kilometres of model roads will be developed, permanent solutions are being implemented at 40 sewer blockage locations, and stormwater drains and rainwater harvesting projects are underway. There is hardly any area where the corporation is not carrying out development work,” she said.

Officials added that proposals are being prepared for a multi-level parking facility, modernisation of garbage collection centres, development of a digital data centre and completion of the new MCG office building by the end of the year.

Residents, however, said the real test will be visible improvements in civic infrastructure in the months ahead.