Cleaning entire city not on us, says trash transfer firm

GURUGRAM: Ecogreen Energy Pvt Ltd, the MCG-hired solid waste collection and management agency, on Wednesday said it was not its mandate to clear waste from non-designated sites, rejecting charges of poor work levelled by residents and councillors against it.

Ecogreen CEO Ankit Agarwal said the agency was being held responsible for work that had not been mentioned in its contract. “According to the contract, Ecogreen is supposed to pick up waste only from designated points and is not responsible for waste heaps in other parts of the city,” he said, adding that the agency was, however, going out of its way to pick up garbage from non-designated points.

The agency has been drawing a lot of flak from residents and councillors, who have been saying that even though Ecogreen had been appointed a year ago, garbage heaps could be spotted at various places in the city.

The agency officials said that the contract did not require them to sweep streets or collect construction and demolition waste. “We are only required to collect municipal waste and MCG has appointed other agencies for other works,” said Agarwal, adding that waste segregation was also not part of the contract.

In last week’s MCG House meeting, councillors proposed relieving Ecogreen of its duties on account of “inefficiency”. Agarwal said that the agency’s officials had had multiple interactions with councillors but the two sides did not reach any agreements.

He, however, agreed that the agency had defaulted at multiple points and were streamlining their process. It was also launching an app for residents to track garbage pick-up vans, pay user charges and file complaints.

On its understanding with MCG, Agarwal said that Ecogreen sometimes had trouble getting responses from the MCG officials. “For at least four months, we have been asking MCG to take action against RWAs not handing over waste. We have sent notices to them from our side,” said Agarwal but he denied any communication gaps with the corporation.

Meanwhile, the agency has set up three of the eight proposed waste transfer stations in the city. These are at Beriwala Bagh (Near Rajiv Chowk), Atul Kataria Chowk and Sector 43 (opposite Paras Hospital). Earlier, 12 waste transfer stations had been proposed but residents’ protests have made it difficult for the agency to get land.