Waste collection hit across Gurugram, raises stink among residents

Residents of Gurugram have complained about erratic garbage collection and poor waste management, causing foul smells and concerns about disease outbreaks. The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has formed teams to address the issue, but residents claim that their complaints have gone unanswered. This is not the first time that garbage collection has been a major issue in the city, as disputes over non-payment of dues have previously disrupted waste collection. Residents have resorted to throwing garbage in the open and paying private vendors to clean the streets. MCG officials have assured residents that the issue will be resolved within a week.

Waste collection and sanitation continues to be a major bother for residents of the city. Residents across several sectors have alleged that garbage collection in their localities has been erratic over the last one month. And despite several complaints to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) portal, no action has been taken, they alleged.

The situation near a colony in Sector 37C in Gurugram. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Residents said that this has resulted in foul smell in their areas that have also become breeding grounds for mosquitoes — raising apprehensions about a possible disease outbreak. However, MCG officials said that the issue has come to their notice only in the last few days, and they have formed the teams to check the ground situation.

Garbage collection has been a major issue in several sectors of Gurugram — posing a health risk to residents. On multiple occasions this year, garbage collection in areas of the city was affected for several days after MCG and the concessionaire responsible for collection of waste were involved in a dispute over non-payment of dues to the latter.

Meanwhile, residents from several areas of the city such as sectors 37 C, 57, 56, 46, 51, 61, 66, 10 and Palam Vihar have raised issues regarding the waste management.

Manoj Aggarwal, another resident of Sector 37C, said, “The situation is getting worse day by day, we want urgent attention of the civic agency else more people will fall sick as already many have in the area.”

Similarly, in Sector 46, garbage has not been collected regularly, residents alleged, adding that they are paying out of their pockets to get the streets cleaned. “We are paying daily to private contractors to clean the streets and parks as the garbage collection is not happening in our sector. MCG officials send their sanitation staff members only after we complaint and then the situation becomes bad again,” said Rajkumar Yadav, president of resident welfare association, Sector 46.

Meanwhile, in sectors 56 and 57, residents said that they have resorted to throwing garbage in the open due to poor door-to-door collection.

Joginder Singh, a resident of Sushant Lok 2 in Sector 57, said that the waste is hardly collected once a week from their area and they are paying private vendors to keep the streets clean. “Due to non-collection of waste, several residents in the area are seen throwing in either open spaces or roadside,” he added.

Residents alleged that garbage collection vehicles come only once in three or four days since the past many months. There has been no sweeping of roads or pavements either and entire sectors and colonies are in a complete mess, said residents.

MCG senior sanitation inspector Harish Mehta said the civic body has formed teams to check the ground situation and have asked residents to complain on the helpline number so that they have a record of each complaint received and its status. “We have assigned the task to the sanitation wing and the areas will be cleaned within a week. The reason for irregular waste collection was due to breakdown of a few vehicles and we have found an alternative. The issue will be resolved within this week,” he said.