‘Like Covid all over again’: Gurgaon RWAs stare at sanitation crisis after crackdown fears drive migrants away

“This arrangement has been in place for six years. Why was this sudden crackdown carried out without putting in place alternative measures?” she added.

“Even domestic help are scared to come to work now.”

The situation is similar in Sector 23A. RWA General Secretary Bhawani Shankar Tripathy said door-to-door waste collection has been disrupted for more than a week now.

“The day the police operation began, they (workers) disappeared. The cart operators, who were Bengali speaking, are gone… the one remaining vehicle operator is overwhelmed and effectively works on alternate days now… Waste is piling up in vacant plots and greenbelt areas.”

Road sweeping has also taken a hit, he added. “The staff, reduced from 27 to 20 after a contract renewal, now comprises only two women. It is humanly impossible for two people to clean 2 km every day. They manage only 300-500m daily, alternating sections. Even the park dustbins are overflowing now, as people have started dumping their waste there.”

RWAs like Ardee City in Sector 52, which house 2,500 families, have arranged for their own pickup truck with four new workers. “Our 12 earlier door-to-door collectors have fled. We have now invested in a public announcement system, and coordinate through WhatsApp as to when the truck reaches a lane so people can come to give the garbage,” said Chaitali Mandhotra, Ardee City RWA member.

Speaking with The Indian Express, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya acknowledged that sanitation operations in some areas had initially been affected.

“We have been swiftly deploying alternative arrangements (in terms of workforce) that were already in place. The issue is being faced by those sectors that had arrangements with private players who would employ (migrant workers) from the informal sector,” he said.