Gurugram civic body ropes in private vendors to collect and transport waste

MCG officials on Thursday said they have called a meeting of private vendors and the concessionaire and have asked them to resume work from Friday

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Thursday had to engage private vendors to collect waste from door-to-door and dump it at the secondary points after the concessionaire, Ecogreen Energy, failed to resume operations, said municipal officials.

Garbage collection in Gurugram has come to a standstill after concessionaire Ecogreen Energy, citing non-payment of dues by the civic body, stopped lifting waste. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

MCG officials said Ecogreen Energy stopped the waste collection and disposal at 35 secondary points on Tuesday citing non-payment of dues amounting to nearly ₹34 crore. With the concessionaire striking work over the past three days, garbage had piled up in different areas, turning the city into one giant dump yard.

On Wednesday, MCG officials said they have cleared a part payment of ₹2 crore to the concessionaire and on Wednesday evening, Ecogreen said it will resume operations on Thursday. But despite those assurances, it failed to restart work and the municipal corporation had to engage private vendors to do the job.

MCG officials on Thursday said they have called a meeting of private vendors and the concessionaire and have asked them to resume work from Friday.

MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar said they identified all the spots where waste has been dumped and got some of the areas cleaned on Thursday with the help of tractor trolleys and earthmovers.

“We had received over 50 complaints from different residential areas after which we sent teams to those spots to collect waste. The concessionaire will resume work on Friday and our teams will also inspect all locations to ensure that waste is being lifted,” he said.

Kumar said waste was picked and dumped at a few secondary points after engaging at least 50 vehicles on Thursday. “Our teams removed waste from the area near the PWD rest house, Bhimnagar, Sabzi Mandi, Roshanpura, Old Delhi Road , Sector 37, Sector 28, Sadar market and other areas, where large quantities of garbage had accumulated, causing problems to residents,” he said.

Jaideep Kumar Narwana, additional commissioner of MCG, said he, along with his team of sanitation inspectors, removed waste from at least four secondary points. “We have decided to engage a few vendors as a backup, in case the concessionaire fails to do its job,” he said.

Residents said the garbage maintenance system has once again derailed in the city despite assurances to the contrary by civic officials.

Vinod Tayal, a resident of DLF Phase 2, said waste collection and dumping is a major issue in the city. “After every few weeks, some issue or the other crops up and the collection is stopped. There has to be some concrete plan so that if the concessionaire or private vendor goes on strike, the waste can be collected by someone else and not dumped on the road,” he said.

Officials said they are still struggling to streamline the waste collection system.

Nagarjuna Reddy, chief operating officer, Ecogreen Energy, said they have held constructive meetings with MCG officials with positive outcomes. “MCG has understood our concerns and has released a part payment. They have also assured us that the remaining dues will be cleared in the coming days and we have assured them that we will resume full-fledged operations on Friday,” he said.