4 zones, 4 cos: MCG tweaks doorstep waste pickup plan in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: MCG has modified its plan for engaging door-to-door waste collection agencies for the third time. According to the latest plan, MCG will now engage four separate companies, allocating one for each zone. Officials said they would ensure the tender is distributed among four distinct agencies.Though this has led to a delay in appointing a specialised agency in the city — which is sectioned into four zones — officials say the decentralised operation will foster “a healthy competition”.An MCG official said, “The distribution of waste collection responsibilities among four distinct agencies across different city zones will lead to a decentralised operation. The allocation restricts each agency to a single zone, preventing multiple zone assignments.”

“This arrangement fosters healthy competition among the service providers. These considerations prompted the modification of the original proposal. This structure prevents any single agency from establishing a monopoly,” the official added. Initially, MCG proposed to engage two agencies for the city, followed by a second proposal suggesting three agencies for the city to ensure efficient delivery and operation of civic services throughout the city.

MCG’s contract with the city’s door-to-door waste collection agency expired on June 15. The agency was hired for a year in June last year after the MCG terminated its contract with the previous solid waste management concessionaire.Councillor of Ward Number 4 Pardeep Kumar Padam said, “I receive complaints every day accompanied by photographs showing that household waste collection has not been done for five consecutive days. During my recent meeting with MCG officials regarding this issue, they informed me about deploying vehicles as a stop-gap arrangement. However, upon contacting the agency, the contractor revealed that they haven’t yet received the contract. This has developed into a significant issue that MCG needs to resolve without delay.” TOI reported on June 8 that secretary and commissioner of urban local bodies (ULB) department Vikas Gupta approved a proposal to hire 400 light commercial vehicles (LCVs) through a seven-day short-term tender. The plan involved deploying 100 vehicles in each of the city’s four zones for six months, or until the new model request for proposal (RFP) to hire an agency becomes operational.The ULB department recently revised its waste management tender guidelines across municipal corporations in the state. The new framework has reduced the contract period from seven to five years, with a possible two-year extension based on performance.It was on June 23 that MCG constituted a cell to supervise sanitation-related work in the city. The cell will monitor door-to-door waste collection, road sweeping, management of legacy waste at Bandhwari landfill site and handling of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Additional commissioner Ravinder Yadav was designated as the cell’s nodal officer to oversee operations.