Gurugram, April 10 -- Gurugram's waste management system is under strain, with several secondary collection points (SCPs), key nodes in handling the city's daily garbage, found in poor condition, raising concerns over public health and sanitation. Despite claims by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) of ongoing upgrades and beautification, ground conditions at multiple sites remain inadequate. A field visit by HT to four SCPs, Beri Wala Bagh, Carterpuri, Jharsa and Tulip Chowk, revealed lack of basic infrastructure, including missing boundary walls, improper flooring and absence of sanitation facilities. Many of these sites are located close to residential areas, exposing residents to foul odour, flies, mosquitoes and potential health risks. SCPs function as intermediate waste hubs where garbage collected from households and streets is aggregated before being transported to disposal sites. Gurugram has 14 such facilities. However, with all four material recovery facilities (MRFs) lying defunct for over two years due to a contractual dispute, waste is now being directly transported to the Bandhwari landfill, increasing operational pressure on SCPs. MCG officials said that MRFs will operate once the city gets the five-year door to door garbage pickup tender floated. At Beri Wala Bagh, the city's largest SCP, tin-sheet boundary walls were found broken, and defunct machinery from an earlier MRF setup lay abandoned. An assistant sanitation officer posted at the site said, "We keep raising complaints about the facilities in the fields, but either there is no resolution, or poor work is done that only lasts for a few days." Residents have also flagged issues with transportation of waste. "Once, while I was waiting at a red light on my way to the office, a truck overloaded with waste passed by, and I could see the garbage spilling onto the road. This is how the very trucks meant to keep our city clean end up dirtying it," said Veena Sharma, a resident. At Tulip Chowk, located near residential complexes, around 60 to 62 garbage trucks dump waste daily. The SCP facility, lacked boundary walls and is located around just 300 metres away from residential facilities A senior sanitation inspector at the site confirmed the heavy inflow. Meanwhile, residents complained of unbearable living conditions due to the proximity and scale of operations. One of the four SCPs that HT visited, Prem Puri in Jharsa, was shut down by the MCG due to repeated complaints from locals about a foul stench and the spread of diseases in nearby localities. None of the SCPs has any proper offices or washrooms for the workers engaged on the site. The tenders for the construction of the same have been floated by the MCG, the ASI said. The facility at Carterpuri did not even have a supervisor present at the site during the spot check. Manoj Ahlawat, assistant engineer at MCG, said the revamp of SCPs began three months ago. "Out of 14 SCPs, four have already been upgraded, located in Khandsa Sector 37, Chakarpur, Kanhai, and Sikanderpur. We aim to complete all upgrades by July 31 this year," he said....