MCG begins survey on waste management by bulk generators

Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Wednesday started conducting a survey to find out whether bulk waste generators (BWGs) are adhering to the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The civic body directed its seven assistant sanitation inspectors to check the biggest BWGs and submit a report on the same by Thursday evening, said officials.

Officials have also been directed to find out whether empanelled agencies for BWGs are working efficiently and following the rules. The directions were given by the MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar in a meeting of the citizens’ monitoring committee held on Tuesday.

Kumar directed the officials to identify BWGs in a bid to compost and recycle the largest possible share of their daily dumped garbage and eventually reduce the load at the overburdened Bandhwari landfill, said officials, adding that these BWGs include police lines, hotels, residential areas as well as commercial properties.

According to MCG, residential areas, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, commercial properties, educational institutions and government buildings producing over 50kg of waste daily are termed as BWGs.

Kumar said despite many reminders, many BWGs are still not adhering to the rules and regulations following which they have planned to conduct surprise checks and help them set up on-site composting, segregation of waste into various types of categories such as dry and wet and sending recyclable items to MCG’s empanelled agencies. Their properties will be sealed if they fail to comply with the order, the joint commissioner added.

Kumar also directed sanitation officials to focus on the biggest BWGs. “According to our estimate, 26 BWGs produce over 15,000kg of waste on a daily basis. Ensuring that they adhere to the SWM rules will have a bigger impact in the future, than working on 150-200 properties that produce 50kg of garbage daily. Besides issuing fines, MCG will also seal such properties or cut their water and sewerage connections if they are found violating the norms,” he said, adding that he has asked officials of the sanitation wing to submit three lists on BWGs by Thursday evening.

The first list will have detailed properties that adhere to the SWM rules; the second list will have non-functional composting units; and the third list will be on BWGs that do not follow the waste management rules.

Gurugram dumps around 100 tonnes of garbage at the Bandhwari landfill daily. At present, the landfill has around 2.5 million tonnes of waste and is 37 metres in height, according to MCG officials.

“It was decided in the meeting that the teams will probe whether the BWGs are adhering to the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, or not. We will take stern action against BWGs not following the norms. It is mandatory for BWGs to process wet waste in their premises and dry waste should be recycled,” an MCG official said.