MCG to outsource 16 community centres to pvt players on trial basis

With the aim of improving the maintenance of community centres and offering residents better services, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has decided to outsource 16 community centres to private agencies on a trial basis from next month.

“The MCG has observed many community centres across the city are in bad shape and not properly maintained. Hence, we have decided to outsource the maintenance of the community centres to private agencies. Four community centres in each of the four zones will be outsourced on a trial basis from next month,” said MCG’s chief engineer T L Sharma.

Sharma, who is overseeing the project, said all necessary approval from authorities is in place. By next week, the request for proposal (RFP) will be floated to invite agencies to bid for the project.

Sharma said during his tenure as the chief engineer at Karnal and Kaithal, he introduced the policy of outsourcing community centres to private agencies. “The outsourcing of community centres to private agencies in Karnal and Kaithal was successful. Hence, I decided to replicate the same in Gurugram. The idea is to offer better services to the public, like the gymkhanas,” said the chief engineer.

He further said the MCG will cap the maximum price a private agency can charge a person for offering services in community centres.“All services at the community centres will be offered at nominal rates, a share of which will also go to the MCG,” said Sharma.

The poor condition of community centres is a major problem across the city, including in upscale areas such as the Golf Course Road, DLF Phase 4, and MG Road, said officials.

Due to their poor condition and lack of usage, the MCG’s community centre near DLF Phase 4 gave way to the Museo Camera, Centre for Photographic Arts while the community centre in Sector 42 near Golf Course Road has been converted into MCG’s zonal office, said officials.

In August 2020, the then MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh acknowledged the poor upkeep of the community centres across the city and decided all future house meetings would be conducted at a new community centre every time. The rationale behind this move was that the MCG’s engineering wing would fix and upgrade amenities, both inside and outside the community centre, before a house meeting takes place.

The MCG held only two house meetings at the community centres in Sector 27 and Sukhrali, after which they reverted to the system of holding house meetings at the John Hall in Civil Lines.

There are around 65 community centres under MCG’s jurisdiction, of which 35 are with MCG and 30 with Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).

“Outsourcing community centres to private agencies will remove the ‘community’ element to it. The MCG should instead take over the community centres, which are poorly maintained by RWAs, and maintain them properly instead of handing it over to a third party,” said Dhruv Bansal, spokesperson of Gurgaon Citizens Council (GCC), an umbrella body of all RWAs in the city.