MCG forms team with Ullawas villagers to monitor waste at MRF

Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Monday formed a five-member team of officials and residents to monitor waste operations at material recovery facilities (MRFs) at Ullawas village in Sector 61 that has been lying defunct.

MCG officials said they will start the process of decentralising the waste in the presence of residents and if they try to interfere with the functioning, they will face legal action.

In November and December, residents of Ullawas had protested against the recently opened MRFs managed by the MCG and its concessionaire Ecogreen Energy, alleging that the plant was constructed without their consent and since then, the MRF is shut.

MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar said that they decided to hold a meeting with residents in December, but the villagers were not convinced after which they again met on Monday.

“The waste from the residential societies is taken to other MRFs, which consume more time and teams have to travel a long distance. We have divided the city based on the MRFs, but with stiff opposition from residents in South City-1 and Ullawas , we have to expand the capacity of other plants that will involve additional cost and manpower,” Kumar said.

Kumar said the team will consist of two residents and three officials who will monitor the entire process, but some of the residents are still not convinced. “We are hopeful to start the facility within a week,” he added.

Mahesh Dayma, councillor of ward number 30, who was also present in the meeting, said that residents are against the MRF in the village as the composting pits are being built in the open, which is inevitably leading to foul smell, whereas it should be in an enclosure.

“It has also become a breeding ground for germs and diseases. The land should be used for some revenue generation and not for a waste plant that is built dangerously close to the village,” Dayma said.

Meanwhile, Kumar added that unidentified suspects had stolen a computer system, a CCTV camera, a digital video recorder, a Wi-Fi router, water pumps and metal sheets kept for erecting sheds at the MRF in Ullawas.

The stolen items were worth more than 5 lakh, officials said. According to police, the theft is suspected to have taken place between November 8 and December 23, when the facility was shut.

Sanjay Sharma, deputy chief executive officer of Ecogreen Energy, said that an FIR against unidentified suspects was registered under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Sector 65 police station on December 29.

“Once the facility is fully functional, we will also install trommel machines for mechanised screening and segregation of waste. We are making compost with the wet and dry waste and will ensure there is no foul smell,” Sharma added.