MCG officials, concessionaire booked for illegal dumping, burning of garbage

Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and employees of its waste concessionaire Ecogreen have been booked for allegedly spreading infection by dumping and burning garbage in an open plot in Khandsa.

A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered at Sector 37 police station on Tuesday against Ecogreen and MCG officials under sections 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 278 (making atmosphere noxious to health) of the Indian Penal Code, said police.

According to the complaint filed by Avinash Raghav, a resident of Khandsa village on behalf of village residents, the municipal corporation has built a garbage house on vacant land near the government school in the village. Garbage is being collected from other areas and dumped in their village, residents have alleged.

“The corporation is illegally dumping garbage on Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) land instead of government or other fixed land. The MCG has given the contract of garbage disposal to Ecogreen. Some civic officials and employees of Ecogreen dump garbage here and set it on fire every day,” said Raghav.

He said smoke from the garbage fire is causing breathing problems among residents of the village, including school students.

“The pollution level as well as the risk of spreading infectious diseases has increased in Khandsa village and surrounding areas. Action should be taken against the responsible officials and workers of MCG and Ecogreen,” said Raghav.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said investigation is underway. “No arrests have been made so far but our teams have been deployed to keep a check on illegal garbage dumping in the area,” he said.

Sanjay Sharma, deputy chief executive officer of Ecogreen Energy, said unidentified people are trying to frame them in a false case. “Why will we collect waste and bring to another location to set it on fire? It requires manpower and is a waste of finances. We get paid for collection of waste and it’s our loss. We will not get a single penny for burning waste,” he said.

MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar, said local residents are alleging that MCG and Ecogreen are involved in setting fire to the waste. “The allegations are baseless and should be investigated by crime teams to get to the truth.Ecogreen cannot do any such thing as they are being paid for waste collection and they suffer loss if garbage is not picked from the areas. We have also launched an internal probe in the matter,” he said.