MCG's road sweeping machines cost-effective? Panel to find out in Gurgaon
Gurgaon: MCG has formed a committee to assess the cost-effectiveness of its road sweeping machines. The committee has been directed to submit the report by May 25.
According to the data accessed by TOI, the civic body currently spends Rs 4 crore monthly, inclusive of fuel expenses, to operate 16 sweeping machines for maintaining the city's cleanliness.
On April 7, a penalty of Rs 25,000 was levied against the mechanical sweeping contractor for inadequate cleaning services.
The panel — chaired by additional municipal commissioner Mahabir Prasad — will evaluate how well the mechanical sweeping systems function, their operational effectiveness, difficulties faced and cost considerations, alongside a comparative analysis with conventional manual sweeping techniques.
On May 9, Badshapur MLA and Haryana industries and commerce, forest and environment minister Rao Narbir Singh said he would conduct an investigation at his level into the functioning of sweeping machines and super sucker machines run by MCG and MCM following a TOI report. The report, dated April 22, said the sweeping machines managed by a private contractor for MCG, which should operate throughout the night on city roads, were underperforming.
One of the sweeping machines worked only for 28 minutes daily, sources said, citing a virtual meeting led by urban local bodies commissioner and secretary Vikas Gupta. MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya told TOI on Wednesday, "We have formed a panel on the directions of the minister. The panel will assess the cost-effectiveness and utility of these sweeping machines for the urban area."
Other members of the panel include joint commissioners of all four zones, including Akhilesh Yadav, Vishal Kumar, Jaiveer Yadav and Sumit Kumar; executive engineer (Swachh Bharat Mission) Sanjiv Kumar and assistant engineer (SBM) RK Mongia.
Road cleaning operations employ dual approaches — automated cleaning through machines, alongside traditional manual cleaning by sanitation staff hired through agencies and direct MCG sanitation workers.
Ashish Agarwal, a resident of Nirvana Country, said, "I was returning from the airport at 1am when I noticed that a sweeping machine was moving on the Nirvana Central road, without its brushes down on both sides, so effectively no cleaning was happening. It was moving only for protocol since its movement was being tracked through GPS. It was clearly not sweeping the road." Officials said that the operations of the sweeping machines are being monitored, and it is mandatory for the machines to dispose of the dust collected after sweeping the city roads at the designated sites.
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