Gurugram: Takeover of nine colonies today, upkeep in private hands for now

GURUGRAM: MCG has decided that the maintenance services outsourced by developers or
RWAs in the nine colonies that will be taken over by the corporation on Wednesday will remain
with the same private agencies for a few months.
Officials said the civic body too will have to invite tenders and hire a contractor to take up
maintenance work such as sanitation and upkeep of green areas.
So, the corporation decided that the agencies which are currently managing the colonies will
continue with their work and MCG will bear the cost, they said. As a result, residents of these
colonies won’t have to pay for maintenance of the area except for waste collection and security,
as these services won’t be covered by MCG.

After the department of town and country planning (DTCP) issued an order on May 9, MCG had
decided to take over nine colonies by June 15. The takeover means MCG will be in charge of
essential services such as water supply, door-to-door waste collection, roads, sewerage and
drainage in these colonies.
“We have decided that colonies where the private agencies are already deployed either by the
builder or RWAs through an agreement for maintenance of roads and green spaces should
continue their work. With the takeover, MCG will pay these private agencies instead of starting
the tender process on its own and then finalising a private company to do the job. We will focus
on providing essential services to the residents,” said Vivek Gill, the MCG superintending
engineer.
Officials, however, said security doesn’t fall under the civic body’s mandate, so they won’t pay
for agencies providing security to the residents. This, some residents said, will be a major
concern since they will have to pay for security agencies.
Ward councillor , Kuldeep Yadav, said initiating the tender process again and then hiring a
private agency is a time-taking exercise. “By continuing with the contract between the private
agencies and builders or RWAs for basic maintenance, MCG will save a lot of time. In case the
agencies stop work, the tender process will at least take one to two months, due to which the
basic maintenance services will suffer. So, it is a good step to continue with the old private
agencies.”

In some colonies, RWAs outsource upkeep to private firms. A delegation of officials led by the
MCG commissioner visited Ardee City, one of the nine colonies to be taken over, on Monday.
“We have hired a private agency for sanitation and we also have an MCG-empanelled agency
for door-to-door waste collection. The commissioner, along with MCG officials, visited our colony
and said if the agency is working efficiently, they should continue. Residents won’t have to pay
maintenance fees now, they will only have to pay door-to-door waste collection fees. But
security, which is a major expense for the RWAs and residents and isn’t covered by MCG, will
however remain a challenge,” said Chaitali Mandhotra, a resident and member of Ardee City
RWA.
Meanwhile, MCG will also have to ensure the private agencies work efficiently. “The private
agency in Sushant Lok hardly did any work for sanitation and horticulture. For example, the
sweeping of roads is done only once in 15 to 20 days. But this is because the builder didn’t pay
the agency. With the takeover, MCG will have to ensure that residents don’t have to suffer.
Door-to-door waste collection is regular, so it is a good decision to go ahead with the same
contractor, but residents are not satisfied with the agency working for horticulture and
cleanliness,” said Sudakshina Laha, an executive member of Sushant Lok-2 and 3 RWA.