Gurugram civic body serves notices to sanitation agencies for delay in work

Six agencies hired for sanitation services in Gurugram have been served notices for non-compliance of contract parameters and are at risk of having their tenders terminated. The agencies have not yet begun work despite reminders, and if they do not start within the week, penalties and blacklisting may follow. The agencies have been asked to submit a report and photographs after cleaning the areas under their jurisdiction. Sanitation workers' unions claim that they are protesting over issues such as outsourcing and non-payment of salaries.

Six agencies hired for sanitation services in the city were served notices for “non-compliance of parameters” mentioned in the contract, an official of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram said.

Garbage strewn across the road near Chakkarpur village in Gurugram on Thursday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The official said that the agencies are yet to begin work despite several reminders and that their tenders are likely to get terminated if they don’t begin work within the next week.

Naresh Kumar, MCG joint commissioner for the Swachh Bharat Mission, said that they had given verbal warnings twice in the last week of September to thesix agencies. Besides, two firms were served show cause notice around the same time after their work was found to be unsatisfactory.

“We had formed teams to conduct spot checks and found that none of the agencies had carried out sanitation work in their jurisdiction. The teams found that these agencies had not done any sanitation work and garbage was found lying in residential areas, streets and markets based on which they were asked to submit their replies,” he said.

Officials said that these agencies were responsible for picking up waste from residential areas and transporting them to secondary points.

Kumar said they have not adhered to the parameters and guidelines mentioned in the contract. “We have given them a last warning. If they still don’t adhere to the deadline, we will impose penalty and blacklist the agencies,” he said.

An employee of one of the new agencies hired by MCG, who asked not to be named, said they were not being allowed to work by the sanitation workers’ union.

However, sanitation workers’ unions have said that the workers are protesting over various issues such as outsourcing of the sanitation work and non-payment of salaries.

“Each time the government has given false promises and have betrayed us several times. Last time we had called off strike after tall claims by the government,” said Naresh Malkat, state secretary of Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh.

The key areas where waste was found strewn on the streets include Vyapar Kendra, Sadar Market, Palam Vihar, sectors 14, 54, 56, 57, Ardee City, the stretch between Rajendra Park and Daultabad, and sectors 106, 109, 112 and 113, officials said.

MCG sanitation officials said that complaints are mounting from many areas and the new agencies are unable to manage and operate despite over a month passing since the tender was awarded.

The agencies have been asked to submit their reply on the reasons of the irregularities in their work and to submit a report along with photographs after getting the areas under their jurisdiction cleaned.