Four booked for assaulting garbage collectors who asked them to segregate waste in Gurugram

Police said incidents of residents assaulting employees after being asked to segregate waste have been reported from at least three residential areas in the past week

Police on Sunday booked four men for allegedly assaulting two employees of Ecogreen Energy, the concessionaire engaged by Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for waste management, after they refused to pick mixed waste. Police said incidents of residents assaulting employees after being asked to segregate waste have been reported from at least three residential areas in the past week .

Workers unloading partly segregated waste. The MCG, since November 11, collects only segregated waste from households and has directed its drivers and concessionaire not to pick up mixed waste. (HT Archive)

According to the police, Anil Kumar (30), the driver of the garbage collection vehicle and his helper Shadat Khan went to Shivaji Nagar on Sunday morning to collect garbage.

Kumar was collecting the waste when he noticed that residents had not segregated the garbage and were giving them the bag of the mixed waste, which he objected to. “When I refused to collect the garbage, one of the residents called his friends and forced me to pick up the garbage. I told them that I cannot pick up mixed waste and will only collect it when they segregate it. They started abusing and assaulting me,” he said.

Kumar said Khan rushed to help him and started making videos for evidence, following which the men assaulted him too and threatened them.

The MCG, since November 11, collects only segregated waste from households and has directed its drivers and concessionaire not to pick up mixed waste. The civic body said it will start penalising residents who dump accumulated mixed waste in public spaces.

In the last week of October, the MCG issued directions to its sanitation wing and officials of Ecogreen Energy to make citizens aware of the segregation process. The segregation of waste is also aimed at converting wet waste into compost and recycling dry waste to the maximum possible extent so that the load carried to the overburdened Bandhwari landfill can be reduced.

Suvendu Samantaray, general manager, operations of Ecogreen, said that as per the guidelines of MCG’s solid waste management, since Sunday they have started a 100% waste segregation campaign across the city. “To enforce this MCG professed that no mixed waste should be collected from any residential area and awareness campaigns have been launched. Our team members are often attacked when they do not collect mixed waste and threatened for life,” he said.

Both employees are undergoing treatment at a private hospital and reported out of danger, said police.

Samantaray said that they have given a copy of the mobile phone recording where the suspects are seen assaulting both the employees.

Parveen Kumar, station house officer of Shivaji Nagar police station, said that incidents of assaulting the employees of waste management company has increased. “Residents do not want to segregate waste and when the employees ask them they get agitated and attack them. We have booked four of the suspects but yet to arrest them,” he said.

A case under sections 323 (assault), 506 (threatening for life), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at Shivaji Nagar police station on Sunday evening.

The suspects were identified as Monu, Ankit , Sanjay, and Neeraj of Shivaji Nagar. They are on the run, said police.

Hari Om Atri, joint commissioner of MCG, said that they have directly the drivers to only collect segregated waste and not to pick mixed waste. “Such incidents have increased across the city and we are taking strict action against the offenders. We are receiving complaints from Palam Vihar, Sector 10 and Sector,” he said.