GMDA will spend MCG money on civic works, councillors assured

MCG’s move to allocate ₹500 to the GMDA had attracted criticism

Top officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) assured councillors that the funds transferred from its kitty to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) would be spent on development projects in areas that are under the MCG’s jurisdiction.

At the House meeting on Wednesday, MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav also directed the engineering department to come up with a proposal for constructing low-cost sewage treatment plants in villages to ensure untreated water does not flow into stormwater drains. (HT PHOTO)

The transfer of ₹500 crore to the GMDA in January had drawn severe criticism from councillors. They had said that the civic body’s resources have become scarce after the transfer to the GMDA. They said the transfer was unfair as the funds should have been spent civic works.

MCG additional commissioner YS Gupta said, “The state government has given clear directions to the GMDA that the sum of ₹500 crore will be spent towards developmental projects in areas under the MCG’s jurisdiction. Hence, there are no losses to the MCG’s expansion plans.”

Commissioner Yashpal Yadav also assured that the MCG will prepare a schedule for periodic cleaning of all sewer lines, and that all drains in the city would be unclogged within the next two months.

Yadav’s response came after councillors had raised the issue of city lagging behind on preparations for the Monsoon.

“All drains will be cleaned and made functional before the onset of Monsoon. Within the next 10 days, a list of all drains that need cleaning and a schedule for cleaning them will be circulated to councillors,” Yadav said, adding that, if needed, the MCG would rent or outsource sewage machines for the purpose.

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In 2016, the city faced an hours-long jam after rains resulted in waterlogging at Hero Honda Chowk, choking the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and arterial roads, brining Gurgaon to a virtual halt.

Yadav also directed the engineering department to come up with a proposal for constructing low-cost sewage treatment plants in villages to ensure untreated water does not flow into stormwater drains.

The decision to clean drains comes weeks after a meeting between ward councillors and officials on February 19 when it was decided to make all existing rainwater harvesting systems functional and add more such pits across the city.

RS Rathee, councillor of ward 34, also raised the issue of letting councillors know about the MCG staff strength and share the number of workers who are above 60 years of age.

“There are 635 sanctioned posts within the MCG, of which 183 are MCG staff members and the remaining have been outsourced. There is no single position occupied by an MCG staff member above the age of 60; there are 34 such outsourced employees above this age limit,” Gupta said.

Rathee pressed for details of the 34 outsourced employees after mayor Madhu Azad sought details of MCG’s staff strength after receiving complaints from officials that the MCG is “low on manpower”.

Gupta replied that the list of 34 employees will be shared with councillors. He said the MCG has submitted a requisition to the state government for hiring more employees and had sent reminders on February 21 and 28 on the issue.