Gurugram mayors get new office in more accessible Civil Lines

Till now, mayor Madhu Azad, senior deputy mayor Pramila Kablana and deputy mayor Sunita Yadav had separate offices in MCG’s main office in Sector 34, an industrial sector towards the outskirts of the city

A new office for the city’s mayors was inaugurated Wednesday inside the old office building of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) in Civil Lines, bringing them closer to the city centre and making them more accessible for hundreds of citizens.

Mayor Madhu Azad, senior deputy Mayor Promila Kablana, deputy mayor Sunita Yadav and Municipal Commissioner Yashpal Yadav inaugurate their new office, at old Nagar Nigam office opposite civil hospital in Gurugram, India, on Wednesday(Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Till now, mayor Madhu Azad, senior deputy mayor Pramila Kablana and deputy mayor Sunita Yadav had separate offices in MCG’s main office in Sector 34, an industrial sector towards the outskirts of the city, where accessibility remained a major hurdle due to non-availability of public means of transportation.

The distance between the two offices is seven kilometres.

The new office was constructed in the office opposite the Civil Hospital after residents submitted several complaints in this regard. Most government establishments, such as the district courts, mini secretariat, police headquarters are located out of Civil Lines, which is close to Rajiv Chowk and well connected by public transport.

After cutting the ribbon to her new office, mayor Madhu Azad said, “It’s imperative that we are in a place that is easily accessible for people, so we can devote more time to addressing their issues. The new office will especially help people from the economically weaker sections and women, who faced considerable difficulty in reaching the Sector 34 office.”

Azad is expected to split her time between the two offices as her predecessors did before the mayors’ office was shifted from the Civil Lines office to the one in Sector 34 in February 2015.

The move has been welcomed by residents.

Mamta Kumari, a resident of Rajiv Nagar who met the mayors on Wednesday after the inauguration, said, “On several occasions, I was tempted to apprise the mayor about the issues in my area but failed to do so as there were limited options for public transport to reach Sector 34. Even the ones which existed, such as shared auto-rickshaws and private buses, are very unsafe for women. Today, after the opening of the new office, I finally got to meet the mayors and tell them about problems in my area.”

The new office is on the ground floor, towards the right of the building’s entrance, next to the office of Zone 1 joint commissioner Mukesh Kumar.

MCG chief Yashpal Yadav, who was present for the inauguration, briefed mediapersons about the various development projects the MCG is undertaking, such as hiring a concessionaire to help societies convert their waste into manure, which will be purchased by the civic body at ₹5 per kg and use it in public parks and green belts across the city.

Further, he also informed that the MCG is looking to build a mobile phone application that can be used by residents to report encroachments.