Caught dumping sewage, men assault civic body officials in Sector 70A

Three officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) were allegedly beaten by a group of people in Sector 70A on Saturday. The incident took place when

Three officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) were allegedly beaten by a group of people in Sector 70A on Saturday. The incident took place when the civic body officials had gone to take action against the group of men, who were allegedly illegally dumping sewage waste out in the open, said MCG officials on Sunday.

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MCG officials said the accused include a father-son duo. The son, who has been identified as Rahul, was caught dumping sewage waste from two tractors.

Officials said that while the MCG team was apprising him of the violation and the penalties for illegal dumping of waste, he slapped one of the civic body’s junior engineers and subsequently called around 30 more men, including his father, who arrived at the spot and started attacking the MCG team with bricks and sticks. They even held the officials captive for a short duration but soon fled the spot with their tractors., said officials.

The three MCG junior engineers suffered minor injuries in the incident, confirmed Amit Sandilya, executive engineer of MCG, who filed a police complaint at the Badshahpur police station on Saturday.

“We received information from local residents that a few men were illegally dumping sewage waste in the open. An MCG team visited the spot and found some people engaging in the illegal activity. When we tried to argue with them, they turned violent and started attacking our team members. We have registered a case in the matter and the police have initiated their investigation,” said Sandilya.

Inspector Deepak Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Badshahpur police station said that the “MCG officials have identified two or three people among the group while the rest remain unidentified. Our investigation is underway. We are yet to make any arrest in the matter.”

Two weeks ago, following a National Green Tribunal (NGT) direction, the directorate of urban local bodies (ULB) directed MCG to appoint teams and conduct on-spot surveys for checking illegal dumping of sewage by private tankers in residential areas. Subsequently, the civic body created teams and started sending them to different parts of the city for inspection.

Earlier this week, the MCG had revised its fine for illegal sewage dumping, increasing it by as much as ten times. As per the MCG’s revised fine amount, a first-time violation would invite a penalty of ₹25,000 and if the same person is found repeating the violation, then he will have to pay a fine of ₹50,000. Prior to this revision, the fine for illegal sewage dumping was ₹5,000.

If a person is unable to pay fine, then the civic body will impound the vehicles and the machinery of the violator used in the activity.

According to MCG officials, illegal dumping of sewage is very common in the city, especially in the new sectors — 58-115 — where many residential areas are yet to be connected to the master sewerage lines of Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP). In January, last year, a Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) report stated that at least 80 million litres of untreated sewage is being dumped in stormwater drains across the city, choking up water bodies and drains, polluting the underground water table, and leading to waterlogging during the monsoon season.

Incidentally, last month, two MCG officials were also beaten up by some locals during a stray animal capture drive in Sector 52.