Millennium City secures 112th rank out of 434 participants in cleanliness survey

 Even after efforts being made by Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to improve the ranking of Millennium City in cleanliness, a survey organised by the Union Urban Development Ministry showed the city has again missed the mark.

 Out of 434 participating cities, Gurugram has got the 112th rank. Though the public officials can take consolation from the fact that the city has performed better than certain areas of NCR, the ranking is still way below the mark.

 While the aim of theofficials was to place Gurugram among top fifteen clean places of the country, the ranking has again highlighted the profound challenges towards making Gurugram clean.

 Not only in NCR but also among the cities in Haryana, Gurugram has not been able to achieve the number one position.

 In Haryana, Gurugram is way ahead of cities like Panchkula, Rohtak, Kaithal and Ambala, with Faridabad on top, 24 places higher than the Millennium City.

 To improve the cleanliness rank of the city, the MCG officials had focussed on the effective segregation of the waste in the city this time.

 While MCG has sounded optimistic that steps are being taken to ensure citizens effectively segregate waste generated in their homes, not many seem to be impressed by the claims of the MCG.

Most of the environmental activists and members of Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) have claimed of the slow progress by MCG towards improving the situation at Bandhwari landfill site.

Recently, in a complaint mailed to Prime Minister's Office, grievances were highlighted of how a vacant site near a school was converted into a waste dump.

There have also been protests by the residents of Sector 17 and Sector 56 over the large disposal of garbage in the vacant areas.

"For four years, there has been no action by the MCG in the treatment of garbage at the Bandhwari landfill sites. There are 90 trucks which come daily from Faridabad and Gurugram to dump the garbage," said Amina Sherwani, an environmental activist. "The steps of segregation of waste are now new and have been carried out earlier by various societies and RWA's. They did not get the support of MCG that time citing various excuses, what new steps have now been added by MCG," added Sherwani.