MCG to seek help of multiple stakeholders to bolster its efforts to curb Covid-19

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will be using the help of elected representatives, residents’ welfare associations (RWAs), religious institutions, non-governmental

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will be using the help of elected representatives, residents’ welfare associations (RWAs), religious institutions, non-governmental organisations, self-help groups, traders’ bodies and market associations to expand its outreach and ensure a more stringent supervision of safety protocols pertaining to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the city, said officials on Tuesday.

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This was among the many key decisions taken by MCG’s Covid-19 action plan team during its first meeting at the civic body’s Sector 34 office on Tuesday.

Under the action plan, the MCG will be initiating a “focussed awareness” campaign to combat the pandemic, said officials.

On Monday, the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) had issued directions to all 88 urban local bodies across Haryana, made of 10 municipal corporations, 21 municipal councils, and 57 municipal committees, to formulate a Covid-19 action plan.

In this regard, the MCC formed an action plan team on Tuesday to chalk out the measures that can be adopted to sensitise residents about the problems associated with Covid-19, the necessary safety protocols to be followed, and the penalties to be faced for violations.

“Adhering to the directions of the ULB, an action plan against the pandemic has been formulated. In today’s meeting, various steps to counter Covid19 — such as creating awareness about the pandemic, following rules of social distancing, use of face masks, and other hygiene measures — were decided. We have chalked out a strategic plan and directions have been issued to the concerned civic officials in this regard,” said SS Rohilla, public relations officer (PRO), MCG, and one of the action plan members.

An MCG official privy to the matter said that the civic body is sending letters to all elected representatives, residents’ welfare associations (RWAs), religious institution, NGOs, self-help groups, trade and market associations to create awareness regarding the pandemic within their focus areas and also inform the civic body if people are found to be disobeying the safety protocols.

“The MCG has been undertaking various measures to prevent and contain the spread of Covid-19 since the last seven months. We realised that involving more citizen groups would further bolster our efforts to spread awareness about the virus as well as to supervise the safety measures. We are working on various strategies to curb the pandemic and ensure the maximum number of people stay safe,” said Vinay Pratap Singh, commissioner, MCG.

Singh has appointed Surender Kumar, additional commissioner, MCG as the nodal officer for the Covid-19 action plan. Kumar would be responsible for the implementation of all safety measures, said officials.

“We will be assisting the MCG and creating awareness about Covid-19 measures within our areas. Teams would be formed for both spreading the messages as well as keeping a check on residents if there are any lapses regarding safety protocols,” said Dhruv Bansal, spokesperson of Gurgaon Citizen Council, an umbrella body of RWAs in the city.

Officials further decided that around 250 vehicles of EcoGreen — MCG’s waste concessionaire for door-to-door collection of waste — would be used to deliver Covid-19 related messages.

“Ecogreen vehicles would be ideal in relaying messages on a mass level as they travel to practically all neighbourhoods in the city. We will be taping some pre-recorded messages and attaching them to the vehicles’ loudspeakers to spread more awareness about Covid-19,” said a senior MCG official privy to the matter.

Further, the MCG would also install around 50 hoardings in public places such as government buildings, transport offices, public toilets, and markets bearing Covid-related messages.