Haryana govt to rope in RWAs, individuals for city waste collection

To improve sanitation and expedite the removal of garbage in the city, the Haryana government has planned to rope in individuals and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) for door-to-door collection, with a three-member committee being formed on Sunday to outline the parameters for the new move, officials said.

Haryana chief secretary TVSN Prasad, who was in Gurugram on Sunday, said that the number of sanitation vehicles for door-to-door collection will be increased and for this purpose the government had decided to involve individuals and RWAs, who shall work in tandem with existing contractors and agencies. They shall be paid for this work by the municipal agency, officials aware of the matter said.

Prasad helmed a meeting on the ongoing cleanliness drive with senior officials and eminent citizens, who gave suggestions to improve the city’s waste management.

“We have decided to open the work of waste collection to individuals and RWAs, who can deploy their own vehicles with drivers to collect garbage and take it to the secondary collection points of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG). The corporation will pay the vehicle owners monthly fees based on the rate fixed by the committee. The purpose is to ensure that the city is cleaned and waste is collected and disposed in a proper manner,” he said.

The chief secretary said that they are trying to resolve the problems related to waste management by asking everyone to participate. “Any individual, institution, RWA or group can come forward to deploy waste collection vehicles. The committee will soon formulate the norms and an advertisement for empanelment will be issued,” he said.

Prasad added that these vehicles will mandatorily have GPS installed so that their location can be continuously tracked, with their link made available in the public domain for citizens.

The minimum service period for vehicles used in this work in Gurugram will be set for three years, and the number of vehicles may rise to 1000, officials said.

The chief secretary also said that he will hold a weekly meeting with citizens of Gurugram to review the ongoing sanitation work. He directed the MCG to proceed with its proposed procurement of 40 compactors and suction machines. He also directed officials to correct the waste disposal system at Bandhwari.

In the meeting, deputy commissioner, Nishant Kumar Yadav informed that 112 critical points prone to waterlogging have been identified in the district, and senior officials have been assigned to monitor and manage these locations.

Municipal Commissioner Narhari Singh Bangar stated that in Gurugram city, four major and nearly 600 kilometres of small drains are used for drainage and tenders have already been issued for cleaning all drains.

Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Chandra Bidhan too conducted a review of cleanliness and drainage facilities in Gurugram on Sunday. He instructed the concerned agency to clear the C&D waste from Sector 29 within the next two days, warning that failure to do so would result in an FIR against them.