Manesar civic body starts mechanised sweeping of roads

A week after its formation, the Municipal Corporation of Manesar (MCM) started its first-ever on-ground operations on Friday with mechanised cleaning of roads across

A week after its formation, the Municipal Corporation of Manesar (MCM) started its first-ever on-ground operations on Friday with mechanised cleaning of roads across Manesar.

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Three mechanised sweeping machines of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) were launched from IMT Manesar Chowk for sweeping the roads in the Manesar area.

The MCG also launched four mechanised sweeping machines of its own on Friday to provide better coverage. These were launched from Daultabad and Bhondsi villages respectively.All the seven sweeping machines were launched as part of MCG’s Swachhata Abhiyan.

As per MCG officials privy to the matter, the three machines covering Manesar areas will operate in the daytime and return to Gurugram in the evening.

So far, the MCM has only 22 staff members. All of them are already posted as officials in the MCG and have been given additional responsibilities of the MCM. This also includes MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, who has also been appointed as the commissioner of the Manesar civic body.

With the MCG already stretched in terms of manpower and resources, the additional responsibility of executing civic services in Manesar may lead to a major impact in civic projects across Gurugram.

As per MCG officials privy to the matter, until 2022, MCM will continue to remain heavily dependent on MCG for its daily operations.

Singh was appointed MCM’s first chief on Monday, while the other 21 senior MCG officials including the additional municipal commissioner, deputy municipal commissioner, chief town planner, senior medical officer, and officials from the engineering, electrical, taxation, and sanitary wings were given additional charges of MCM on Wednesday.

As per MCG officials, the timing of this could not have come at a worse time for the civic body,which itself is reeling under a major staff crisis. Currently, charges of five out of ten executive engineers of the MCG have been withdrawn following allegations of corruption, discrepancies, and negligence. This has resulted in the remaining engineers holding multiple posts.Further, charges of many assistant engineers and junior engineers of the MCG have also been withdrawn on similar grounds.

As per MCG officials, the commissioner himself is overburdened. Besides heading two municipal corporations, Singh is also the chief administrator of the Sheetla Devi Shrine Board, and the district municipal commissioner of Gurugram. Under the district municipal commissioner’s role, Singh also heads the municipal bodies located in Sohna, Farrukhnagar, Hailey Mandi, and Pataudi.

Furthermore, MCG’s own area has also expanded. A total of 16 villages located along Golf Course Extension Road (GCER) and Dwarka Expressway has been added last week, stretching the MCG’s limited resources even further.

“MCM’s dependency on the MCG will remain only for a short period of time until the transition period is over. The MCM will then become a completely independent body. It is important to understand that the experience and learning which MCG officials possess will be vital in the formative period of MCM as they can ensure that the new civic body does not make the same mistakes as the MCG did,” said Vinay Pratap Singh.

Singh acknowledged that the multiple charges and sharing of resources may affect the progress of MCG initially. However, he stressed that the long-term benefits will yield higher returns.

“Two strong civic bodies adjoining each other will have long-term benefits. Especially at times of crisis, such as flooding, the two bodies can jointly make preparations and share their resources to tackle the situation similar to the arrangements the MCG and GMDA have. Further, they together can also execute projects together, such as hypothetically creating a new drainage channel,” said Singh.