Condition of 24 villages transferred to Faridabad civic body remains 'poor'

Faridabad, June 23

The civic conditions in 24 villages that had been transferred to the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) continue to remain pathetic even after a period of about 18 months. Upset over poor upkeep of the infrastructure, residents of many villages claim that the civic amenities had deteriorated after their transfer to the civic body from the village panchayats. After inclusion, the MCF is expected to carry all development works instead of the regular village body.

Deterioration of civic amenities

There has been an absolute deterioration of civic amenities in our village in the past several months as there was no one to take care of the amenities such as drinking water, streetlights, sewerage and garbage disposal. Jaswant Pawar, Resident of chandawali village

Plaints being taken care of in planned way

The civic issue or complaints in the villages falling within civic limits, if any, are being taken care of in a planned manner. Senior MCF official

“There has been an absolute deterioration of civic amenities in our village in the past several months as there was no one to take care of the amenities such as drinking, water, streetlights, sewerage and garbage disposal,” says Jaswant Pawar, a resident of Chandawali village. He claimed that his village had hit the news headlines by becoming the first village to have CCTV coverage with efficient civic management, but now, many cameras had gone out of order and there was no proper cleanliness and maintenance of the streetlights as the village panchayat stood dissolved after the absorption in the civic limits.

Manoj Kumar of Mirjapur village says, “The development in our village was far better prior to the inclusion in the civic limits. The streets are damaged and residents have problems getting potable water as three of the four water tubewells are lying defunct. Krishan Kumar, a former Sarpanch of Malerna village, rues that the quality of services rendered by the MCF for maintenance of the civic amenities is very poor. He said the situation had deteriorated in the wake of poor and delayed response.

“With the 24 villages having a population of about two lakh does require over 200 civic employees, including safai karamcharis (sweepers). These villages have only 54 workers, whose services were transferred to the MCF recently,” says Naresh Shastri, president, Haryana Municipal Employees Union. He said another 106 employees, including safai karamcharis, chowkidars and tubewell operators recruited by the panchayats were yet to be absorbed. He said the shortage of staff had led to problems in the upkeep of the basic amenities. Moreover, he said the employees transferred to MCF had failed to get their salaries for the period between January and December 2021.

“The civic issue or complaints in the villages falling within civic limits, if any,were being taken care of in a planned manner”, claimed a senior MCF official.