Swachh Task Force Reviews City Waste, Drainage Work

GURUGRAM: The state-level task force of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), Haryana, reviewed sanitation and waste handling in the city on Thursday and asked officials to tighten monitoring of cleanliness work, with its vice-chairman saying the work order for a new door-to-door garbage collection system would be issued shortly.

The meeting, held at the PWD Rest House and chaired by task force vice-chairman Pramod Kaushik, went through door-to-door collection, waste processing, legacy waste, sweeping arrangements and general cleanliness across the city.

Kaushik said the tender process for door-to-door collection had been completed and that the new system should make household pickup more regular and organised. MCG awarded a long-term garbage collection contract worth Rs 647 crore in August, after spending most of the year on temporary tenders issued in January and June.

## Drainage claim after a heavy monsoon

The task force also took up drainage. Kaushik said sustained work had gone into the network and claimed that, despite above-normal rainfall this year, waterlogging at several locations had been cleared within a few hours. He said work to strengthen the network and speed up the evacuation of rainwater during heavy spells was continuing.

That claim sits uneasily with the commission-level scrutiny the city is under. The Haryana Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the waterlogging after the August rain and asked GMDA to coordinate a technical audit of the stormwater network with MCG, HSVP and other agencies, with a compliance report due a week ahead of its December 15 hearing.

## Citizens and RWAs asked to step in

Officials also discussed the Seva Sankalp campaign, which runs from the Prime Minister's birthday on September 17 to October 17. Kaushik told officials to monitor sanitation work regularly and to take time-bound corrective action wherever gaps were found.

He wanted resident welfare associations, NGOs, social organisations and private institutions brought into cleanliness drives, including the upkeep of parks and other public spaces. "Cleanliness is not only the responsibility of sanitation workers or the administration. Citizens also have an important role to play," he said, calling for a change in behaviour and wider public participation.

Joint commissioners Preetpal Singh, Kushal Kataria, Dr Naresh and Ravinder Malik attended the review along with officials of the departments concerned.

The review came a day after Mayor Rajrani Malhotra made a surprise round of New Railway Road, Old Railway Road and Bhim Nagar to check garbage lifting and street cleaning. She directed officials to ensure garbage was picked up regularly and warned that negligence would not be tolerated. The mayor also spoke to shopkeepers and residents, asking them not to throw waste on roads, to hand it only to the collection vehicles and to keep wet and dry waste separate.

The task force did not announce a date for the collection work order. How quickly the new agency is on the ground is likely to decide whether residents see a difference before Diwali.