Elections to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), covering an area of around 230 sq km and having a population of over 15 lakh, are scheduled to be held on September 24. Over a year after the tenure of its political wing ended in June 2016, the focus has once again shifted on the performance of the civic body over these years, with a close scrutiny of the agency’s achievements and failures by the residents before they exercise their franchise.
Despite a multitude of agencies including the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), the Department of Town and Country Planning, the Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, to deal with separate issues and areas in the Millennium City, the MCG's role is still important. It is responsible for basic amenities like water supply, sewerage, storm water drains, streetlights, roads, horticultural and sanitation services for a vast majority of the population.
Municipal Solid Waste
A leading financial and industrial hub with the third largest per capita income in the country, Gurugram has witnessed rapid urbanisation and growth in population over the past few years. With this growth, safe disposal of large quantities of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has turned into the biggest challenge for the MCG. Even as garbage continues to pile up since the past four years at its defunct Bandhwari solid waste treatment plant, located off Gurugram-Faridabad Road, open dumping and burning of waste continues unabated across the city, playing havoc with the health of residents and polluting the environment.
Solid mess: Open dumping and burning of waste continues unabated across the city, even as garbage continues to pile up at the defunct Bandhwari waste treatment plant of Gurugram. Rain in the city over the past few years has become synonymous with waterlogging and long traffic jams due to rapid and haphazard urbanisation.
Though Gurugram ranked 112 among 434 cities in the Swachh Survekshan 2017 results declared by the Union Ministry of Urban Development compared to 2014, when it stood at the 466th position among 475 cities, residents feel little has changed on the ground.
“Several illegal small landfill sites have mushroomed across the city, especially in New Gurugram, gradually earning it the name of ‘Garbage City’. It is not only an unpleasant sight, there also has been a spurt in diseases like dengue, chikungunya and swine flu over the years,” said Narender Kansal, a resident of Sector 56.
Though MCG officials claim 100% area under the corporation is covered under door-to-door collection, waste management activists contend the current waste disposal system in Gurugram is essentially in the hands of unorganised handlers like rag-pickers, scrap dealers and small-time contractors. The activists claim the MCG does not have an established procedure for waste collection, segregation, transportation and disposal for its workers, contractors and builders.
Waste-to-energy plant
The activists strongly advocate the need for an efficient solid waste management system in view of rapid industrialisation and changing lifestyle. Striving for zero waste, a few group housing societies have voluntarily implemented the de-centralised MSW management projects in their residential complexes. However, they rue lack of support from the MCG in terms of law for waste segregation and incentives. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad to set up a waste-to-energy plant but the move was criticised by activists, who argued that such plants had proved to be utter failures across the globe with disastrous economic and environmental consequences. Besides MSW, the disposal of e-waste, construction and demolition waste, and biomedical waste are other challenges the MCG needs to address on an urgent basis.
Solid mess: Open dumping and burning of waste continues unabated across the city, even as garbage continues to pile up at the defunct Bandhwari waste treatment plant of Gurugram. Rain in the city over the past few years has become synonymous with waterlogging and long traffic jams due to rapid and haphazard urbanisation.
The long-pending demand of residents of several licensed colonies to be transferred to the MCG also remains unfulfilled despite an announcement by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in February 2016. The maintenance of nine private colonies, including Sushant Lok Phase-I, South City I and II, and DLF Phases 1, 2 and 3, is due to be transferred to the MCG.
Miffed over the prolonged delay in the takeover, a few residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) are even mulling boycotting the MCG elections as a mark of protest.
“It was decided in a meeting with Mr. Khattar in April that roads in our townships will be repaired and parks maintained by the MCG and the expenditure incurred will be recovered from the developer. But that has not happened so far. We are now thinking of boycotting the elections. Some of us may even exercise the NOTA option,” said Sushant Lok RWA president A.K. Nagpaul.
He said the final decision in this regard will be taken at a meeting of the association office-bearers later this week.
MCG Senior Town Planner Sudhir Chauhan said the consultants hired by the municipal body had made an assessment of deficient civic facilities and requisite infrastructure in consultation with RWAs. He added that the engineering wing was in the process of preparing estimates.
“Developers will then be directed to remove deficiencies or pay a compensatory amount to the MCG and transfer the colonies. We have already taken over the water supply for Sushant Lok Phase-I and hope to complete the entire process of takeover for all colonies by the end of this year,” said Mr. Chauhan.
Due to rapid and haphazard urbanisation hindering natural flow of water and encroachment upon water bodies, rain in Gurugram over the past few years has become synonymous with waterlogging and traffic jams. In the worst-ever traffic jam in the history of the Millennium City, vehicles on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway and adjoining roads remained stuck for more than 24 hours after nearly 50 mm rainfall on July 28 last year.
Storm water drains
Almost all sectors under the MCG witness waterlogging each time it rains, turning several roads into virtual rivers and throwing normal life out of gear.
“Most HUDA sectors were transferred to the MCG for maintenance in February 2016. Earlier these areas were under the jurisdiction of HUDA but the department never cared to de-silt storm water drains. We have carried out extensive de-silting this year and the results are satisfactory. We plan to repair damaged storm water drains before next monsoon,” claimed Executive Engineer, Zone-II, Dharambir Malik, adding that the civic body had also connected several storm water drains to the HUDA master drains.
He said the existing 250-odd rain-harvesting pits were de-silted and several new pits dug up.
The maintenance of parks and community centres in several sectors has been handed over to the RWAs in return for a fixed payment per sq. m. As a senior MCG official put it, the arrangement has not just helped the municipal body tackle staff crunch but also put an end to regular complaints regarding poor maintenance.
Maintenance rates for parks
Though MCG Commissioner V. Umashankar almost doubled the maintenance rates for parks this year, the RWAs feel the amount is barely enough for maintenance.
“Most parks are in a dilapidated condition because the HUDA never carried out any repairs. The boundary walls and swings are broken and grills rusted. Though the MCG has increased maintenance rate from ₹1.26 to ₹3 per sq. m., the rate now includes repair works as well. Just like community centres, the MCG should carry out the repairs in parks before handing them over to RWAs,” said Bhawani Shankar Tripathy, the Sector 23A RWA general secretary.
Claiming the governance system of HUDA was better than the MCG, he added, “Before being transferred to the MCG for maintenance in May 2016, our sector was with the HUDA. Compared to the MCG, the governance system in HUDA was far better. For instance, one junior engineer [JE] in the civil engineering wing of the HUDA was responsible for all kinds of civil works such as roads and water supply. It was therefore easy for the RWAs to co-ordinate with one person. But in the MCG, there are different JEs and executive engineers for different services.”
He pointed out that this has led to an increase in the time spent on co-ordination, and that the residents and the RWAs now have to contact separate officials for different services.
“It is funny. Under MCG, the governance has become more complicated instead of becoming simpler and more effective,” said Mr. Tripathy, who is also a columnist on civic issues.
Solid mess: Open dumping and burning of waste continues unabated across the city, even as garbage continues to pile up at the defunct Bandhwari waste treatment plant of Gurugram. Rain in the city over the past few years has become synonymous with waterlogging and long traffic jams due to rapid and haphazard urbanisation.
The multiplicity of authority has also added to the woes of residents. While internal roads, drainage system and water supply are now with the MCG, the master drains, external roads and master water supply lines are still the responsibility of the HUDA.
“The residents continue to suffer due to lack of co-ordination between the two agencies,” rued Rajkumar Bhardwaj, a resident of Sector 15 Part-II.
On the issue of open defecation, the MCG claimed that 19 wards were self-declared open defecation-free before August 15. After completion of the required documents of all 35 wards regarding open defecation, the case will be referred to the third party, the Quality Council of India, for spot verification and to declare Gurugram city as open defecation-free under the Swachh Bharat Mission. In slum areas where open defecation is noticed, the MCG has deployed its staff as well as swachhagrahis to educate people and encourage them to use toilets. The monitoring work is done from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. every day, said a MCG official.
Funds for development work
Though MCG officials claim there is no dearth of financial resources and funds for development work in the city, the civic body fails to completely utilise its annual budget due to lack of manpower and other resources. Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Nisha Singh had last year accused the MCG of inflating its revenue and expenditure figures to paint a misleading picture about its financial health and capabilities, thus deceiving the residents of Gurugram.
Outsourcing of services such as sanitation and waste management has also hit the quality of work since it becomes difficult for MCG officials to exercise control over these agencies.
Rajesh Kumar, the district president of the Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh, claimed the number of safai karamcharis in Gurugram was less than half of the total required strength and that they were forced to work without adequate tools and equipment.
“At present, there are around 2,900 safai karamcharis, including 600 on contract. The number should be at least 6,000. Those on contract are not paid for months in a row. It was around four years ago when the MCG last bought equipment and trolleys for the workers,” claimed Mr. Kumar.
Ajay, a youngster, observed: “Despite Gurugram being the financial capital of Haryana, the MCG and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam continue to use axes and traditional methods to prune trees while the New Delhi Municipal Council uses electric saws. It shows how badly the MCG needs to modernise.”
Despite all claims, the condition of roads and streetlights across the area maintained by the MCG continues to be pathetic and the civic body has also failed to tackle the menace of stray cattle.
