Gurugram to fund garbage collection in Faridabad
Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will incur expenses for waste collection in Faridabad, where the lockdown has further hit cash-strapped local
Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will incur expenses for waste collection in Faridabad, where the lockdown has further hit cash-strapped local civic body’s revenues, said officials on Monday.
MCG officials said the Faridabad civic body was further short of funds and unable to pay the tipping fees to the waste collection concessionaire Ecogreen Private Limited for April. Subsequently, the Haryana government directed MCG to pay tipping fees to Ecogreen on behalf of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) from this month.
“The state government asked us to pay our waste concessionaire the tipping fees for the MCF starting this month. Accordingly, we have complied and started helping MCF monetarily,” said Vinay Pratap Singh, commissioner, MCG.
In August 2017, the MCG, MCF, and Haryana government signed a joint-agreement with Ecogreen for the door-to-door collection of waste in Gurugram and Faridabad.
As part of the agreement, the two civic bodies have to pay Ecogreen ₹1,000 for every tonne of waste collected as ‘tipping fees’ on a monthly basis.
According to Ecogreen officials, they collect around 1,200 tonnes of waste from Gurugram every day and 900 tonnes from Faridabad. The MCF pays around ₹2.5-3 crore for waste collection in Faridabad and MCG pays ₹3.5-4 crore every month, depending on the final load.
Singh said the MCG is paying the tipping fees on behalf of the MCF as a loan, and the Faridabad civic body is expected to pay the sum back when their finances are more stable.
In 2010, just two years after its formation, the MCG had lent ₹150 crore to the MCF.
A decade later, MCG officials said these dues are yet to be cleared and added that they wouldn’t be funding MCF for any other aspect besides waste collection, unless the state government states otherwise.
MCF was formed in 1993.
“MCF is facing a financial crunch presently. Although they didn’t list an exact reason, I believe that to ensure the continuity of services, the state government asked MCG to pay Ecogreen on behalf of MCF. Ultimately, these funds between the MCG and MCF have to be settled and we will be paying MCG for all pending dues,” said Yash Garg, commissioner, MCF.
Garg said the MCG is only paying funds for waste collection and nothing else, as it is one of the primary signatories in the agreement between Ecogreen, and the two civic bodies.
“The Haryana government has issued a circular stating that the MCG would be paying tipping fees on behalf of MCF. It is simply an understanding between two municipal corporations,” said an official spokesperson for Ecogreen.
