Swachh Survekshan: Gurugram MC blames waste management agency for poor ranking

Gurugram, January 15

The Gurugram civic authorities have blamed the now exiting waste concessionaire Ecogreen as a primary reason for the city’s poor rankings in the recently released sanitation survey.

The Municipal Corporation, Gurugram (MCG), performed its poorest in almost a decade as Gurugram ranked 140th among 446 cities in the nationwide sanitation survey.

It said the agency’s failure to build a waste to energy plant, loopholes in the collection of garbage on the doorstep and waste treatment, along with repeated strike by sanitation workers, were primarily responsible for the city dropping to 140th position in the Swachhta Sarvekshan.

This is the poorest rank for the city since 2016 and has reportedly earned it notoriety at both national and international level.

In the process of terminating the contract of concessionaire, the civic body has already forfeited its bank guarantee of over Rs 33 crore and slapped a recovery of 129 crore. Gurugram MC Commissioner Narhari Singh Banger has urged individuals to engage in sanitation work in the city.

Besides dedicating the entire workforce to improve the sanitation condition following the conclusion of sanitation workers’ strike, Banger has asked residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) to focus on the same.

Also, action has been announced against bulk waste generators and garbage segregation is being prioritised.

“We will take this up at a war-footing. Not just the MC, but even residents and RWAs will participate now. We have started a survey at the grassroots level to determine what ails a specific area. All top officials will personally get out and monitor sanitation on roads,” Banger told The Tribune.

An assessment of rankings also shows that the city lagged in terms of waste segregation of garbage at source and waste processing.

The MC had told the NGT in December 2023 that the city had achieved 47 per cent of segregation at source, however, the Swachh Survekshan survey found that only 15 per cent of waste was being segregated by households.

Overall, the city scored 5,209.01 out of 9,500 marks in the latest survey. It broadly considers three broad parameters: service-level progress, citizens’ voice and certification for a garbage-free city.

Service-level progress, including segregated waste collection, processing and disposal of waste waste and used water management in the city got 3,032 marks (62. 8%) out of 4,830 points. In the 2022 survey, the city had scored 84.8 per cent in this parameter. — TNS

434 challans issued over GRAP violations

• Gurugram MC Commissioner Narhari Singh Banger has issued a warning against the violation of norms under the GRAP Stage-III. He said the MCG had issued 434 challans over GRAP violations and imposed a fine of Rs 7.50 lakh
• The violations included 99 cases of construction in disregard to environmental rules, 48 cases of illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste, 58 cases of construction despite ban, and 22 cases of garbage burning