Gurgaon: The MCG's contracted agency for the city's door-to-door waste collection allegedly failed to pay the corporation approximately Rs 15 crore as its share of the collected waste fees.
Officials said that the agency, which commenced its operations on June 18, did not fulfil its obligation to remit the MCG's share of the doorstep waste collection charges.
Officials said it was stipulated that the agency would pay MCG 46% of the total user charges collected in zones 1 and 2 and 48.5% of the total user charges collected in zones 3 and 4.
The monthly payment the agency had to give to the civic body as its share amounted to Rs 3.8 crore for all four zones, considering 6.5 lakh units to be covered for doorstep waste collection.
"The agency owes us nearly Rs 15 crore since it started working on June 18 and the monthly estimate comes out to be Rs 3.8 crore. No agreement was signed with the agency for the work. We have also imposed penalties on the agency for its inefficiency on the basis of complaints received from the residents," a senior MCG official said.
The MCG commissioner remained unavailable for comments.
The corporation has also levied penalties on the private agency for failing to collect waste from households.
In July, Haryana chief secretary TVSN Prasad directed the MCG officials to revamp the city's primary waste collection model by taking control of user charge collection from waste collectors and agencies.
The corporation then considered two options: either integrate user charges for primary waste collection with property tax bills, allowing direct payment to MCG, or engage banks in each ward to collect user charges from residents.
For this, the MCG commissioner also constituted a panel to address the matter.
"These allegations are baseless. The fact remains that the MCG did not let us work and provided no support to us. Instead, it supported the empanelled and unauthorised agencies. The illegal vendors and empanelled agencies hired to assist bulk waste generators cover a majority of the area for doorstep waste collection and my agency is left with slums and villages, where people don't pay user charges," Parikshit — a representative of Bimalraj Outsourcing Pvt Ltd, the agency hired for the city's doorstep waste collection — said.
"We also sent multiple letters to the MCG saying that we are unable to collect user charges. I am ready to pay the user charges to the MCG if the corporation collects these charges from the residents and pays us our share. We were not allowed to work in the MCG area, so how can we collect user charges?" asked Parikshit.
He said the contract with the MCG had to be signed after the four-member committee constituted by the commissioner submitted its recommendations on the user charges.
"However, the committee never submitted its recommendations. So, we don't have any contract with the MCG. It was the MCG's responsibility to define and collect user charges," he said.
The firm was hired after the MCG terminated its contract with the previous concessionaire Ecogreen in mid-June earlier this year.
The agency allegedly not paying the user charges to the corporation has also become a cause of concern for the residents.
"The failure of the agency to pay the MCG its portion of user charges is a cause for concern among residents. The agency, hired by the corporation, is blatantly disregarding regulations, and the MCG appears powerless to rein it in. This situation raises the alarming possibility that the agency could abruptly cease waste collection without consequence or arbitrarily increase user charges, given the MCG's lack of oversight," Chaitali Mandhotra, co-convener of United Gurugram RWA, said.
The residents said that to ensure efficient and comprehensive doorstep waste collection throughout the city, the optimal solution is to entrust primary waste collection to the RWAs.
By doing so, the RWAs can guarantee that the MCG receives its rightful share of user charges and that waste collection services are carried out effectively, covering the entire urban area under the corporation's limit.
This approach would provide a more reliable and accountable system for waste management, the residents said.
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