MCG begins nine-day cleanliness campaign across Gurugram

MCG commissioner Narhari Singh Bangar said that they have formed special teams that will closely monitor the cleanliness drive daily

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) launched a nine-day special cleanliness campaign on Tuesday to improve sanitation in Gurugram, people familiar with the matter said. The move comes in response to several complaints from residents across the city highlighting the poor sanitation conditions, said officials.

Garbage on a road in Sector 40 near Community Center in Gurugram on Tuesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Officials said a meeting was held in the MCG office during which an action plan was made. According to this plan, a cleanliness drive will be executed in all the affected areas until April 11. The details of this plan were also shared with the residents.

MCG commissioner Narhari Singh Bangar said that they have formed special teams that will closely monitor the cleanliness drive daily, taking proactive measures to ensure transparency and accountability. “The teams have been asked to share visual updates on resident-created groups regarding the daily updates. They have been asked to keep regular contact with resident welfare associations (RWAs) so that sanitation issues can be resolved,” he said.

Bangar said that the drive will kick off from Sector 46 on Wednesday, followed by Sector 31 on Thursday. It will then extend to Sectors 44, 45, 40, 47, 57, Ardee City, Sushant Lok A-3, and South City 2 on April 11.

Meanwhile, residents said that sanitation has not improved on the ground despite several cleanliness drives having been conducted in the past.

Chaitali Mandhotra, a member of the Ardee City RWA, said cleanliness is deteriorating in their area. “Despite consistently sharing images of newly emerged dump points in the neighbourhood over the past three months with the MCG helpline, there has been no response or action taken. Cleanliness in Gurugram has become a thing of the past with garbage dumps visible everywhere, both within neighbourhoods and outside. We have highlighted the RWA’s initiative to employ their own sanitation workers due to the infrequency of MCG workers coming to the area,” she said.

Puneet Pahwa, general secretary of the Sector 45 RWA, said MCG has not provided them with the list of sanitation inspectors or workers responsible for maintaining cleanliness in their area despite repeated requests. “Despite our persistent efforts, the civic agency has failed to provide this crucial information. The RWA has also proposed to take responsibility for sanitation services in the sector since we can bring significant improvements within a quarter and at a reduced cost by 10%, but our pleas have gone unanswered,” he said.

Residents of Palam Vihar, and Sectors 21, 23, 57, and 48 have also raised complaints about the deteriorating sanitation conditions in their neighbourhoods.