Sector 23A Residents Halt Temporary Garbage Dumping

GURUGRAM: Residents of Sector 23A on Saturday disrupted waste dumping at a vacant residential site for nearly two hours, protesting against garbage that had accumulated for more than 24 hours at a temporary collection point.

The site has been used for temporary waste dumping since 11 September, after the Carterpuri secondary waste collection point was taken up for renovation. Residents said the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram had earlier assured them that waste would be lifted simultaneously from the site and that the arrangement would continue for only two weeks. They said that two-week period had already ended on Friday.

A few residents formed a human chain at the site on Saturday to prevent garbage-laden vehicles from dumping more waste. They questioned the continuation of the temporary arrangement without timely clearance in a residential pocket. The protest was called off after an MCG sanitation inspector assured them that the accumulated waste would be lifted. Following that assurance, waste dumping operations resumed.

Carterpuri diversion and conflicting claims

The development comes days after residents opposed the use of the vacant HSVP plot in Sector 23A for garbage dumping. MCG had said the diversion was needed because of renovation work at the Carterpuri secondary waste collection centre.

Resident Bhawani Shankar Tripathy said MCG had sought two weeks to divert waste to the Sector 23A site and had promised day-and-night dumper operations so that waste would not accumulate. He said that deadline got over on Friday and that waste had not been cleared for more than 24 hours, which is why residents formed a human chain until they received an assurance of lifting.

An MCG official privy to the matter said waste was being regularly cleared from the site and that fresh waste dumped on Saturday would be cleared by night. The two accounts differ on how long piles were left standing, but both confirm the Carterpuri renovation diversion and Saturday's face-off at the temporary point.

For Sector 23A households, the practical test is whether night clearance actually empties the plot after each day's diversion. A two-week stopgap that overruns without matching lifts turns a renovation workaround into a neighbourhood dump. MCG still needs Carterpuri back in service; until then, the temporary site will stay politically sensitive every time clearance slips past a day.

Councillors and ward sanitation staff will also be watched for how quickly they escalate the next pile-up before residents again block dumpers. The Carterpuri renovation clock and the Sector 23A temporary plot are now linked in public memory after Saturday's human chain.