The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram’s (MCG) week-long cleanliness drive, which started last Monday and covered the stretch from Huda City Centre to Cyber Park on Sunday, is in its last leg.

The marathon will end today at the Kherki Daula toll plaza at 2pm. The drive, however, evoked a mixed response from residents and workers. A visit by Hindustan Times also found degrees of effectiveness across routes of the drive.

On Sunday, the drive was kicked off from the Sector 29 fire station by the public welfare development and forest minister of state, Rao Narbir Singh. There were around 70 workers, 15 small trucks, three tractors, and one vehicle sprinkling water on settled dust each in six-hour shifts.

Rajesh Sharma, junior engineer with the sanitation department of MCG said, “The workers are picking up roadside garbage, horticulture waste, removing posters and banners on the roads, cleaning drains, draining water puddles and covering potholes on the main roads of the city.”

The workers, who were a mix of MCG, Nagar Nigam employees and contractual workers, seemed enthusiastic to be a part of the cleanliness marathon record. With this drive, the MCG aimed to set the record of the longest cleanliness marathon in the ‘India Book of Records’ and ‘Asia Book of Records”.

Kavita Devi, a Nagar Nigam worker said, “It is a great feeling to be a part of such an initiative. We hope people see our work and are inspired to keep roads clean.” Like Devi, workers cleaning the roads with masks and in bright orange uniforms were high on enthusiasm and gusto. The marathon also saw the participation of over 20 NGOs across the state and from a few of the city’s schools.

Deepak Jadeja, administrative head of Rajiv Gandhi School in Rajendra Nagar said, “Four teachers and 200 students from our school participated on the third day of the drive. We wanted our students to understand the important of cleanliness and how it can be ensured in a hands-on manner.”

However, there were some residents were who unhappy with the drive and said the drive was only a token act. Sector 57 resident Veena Gupta said, “ Why are there so many people sweeping such a small part of the road? They are taking hours to cover even the smallest distance. This drive is just a show.”

When HT visited the 25th route of the drive on Sunday from Sector 56 to Cyberpark, garbage was being segregated and picked up in different tractors and taken to the nearest dumping ground. However in Sector 29, the situation was different. Mixed garbage was found dumped at the green belt opposite Max Hospital near Huda City Centre and at the Sector 29 green belt, near the fire station, after workers had finished cleaning the strip.

At Sector 10, Basai road GMDC bus station and the main roads of Pataudi Chowk, areas that were cleaned during the marathon on February 26th, large amounts of garbage was seen strewn on the edges of the road.

MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav said, “The goal of this drive was to create awareness regarding cleanliness in the city, and primarily targeted municipal or household waste disposed of on roads. What you see on the empty plots are construction and demolition (C&D) wastage, which we have removed earlier but later got accumulated there. We will find the most suitable method of disposal. The MCG is starting an initiative to enable door-to-door C&D waste collection.”

First Published: Mar 04, 2019 05:07 IST