Move To Implement User Charges For Waste Collection Raises Stink | Delhi News – The Times of India

New Delhi: This financial year, house owners will find user charges for garbage collection from residential units added to their property tax bill. In a statement on Monday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi said Delhi govt had notified the Solid Waste Management Bylaws in Jan 2018 for the three municipal corporations in the capital. “As per the said bylaws, a ‘user fee’ is to be collected for providing services for garbage collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste,” the statement said. “The user fee, as notified in the norms, is being enforced now. The implementation of SWM Rules, 2016, is being monitored by the Supreme Court.”
The decision was criticised by citizens, who questioned how the user charges could be collected only from those paying property tax but not from those who didn’t pay property tax but generated garbage every day.
Residents’ associations also wondered why, when most colonies were paying for the services of private waste collectors, this additional payment was being levied. The user charges were for door-to-door collection of waste by MCD, as mandated under the SWM Rules, they pointed out.
Questions were also raised about the civic body’s attempts to bring the informal sector into the main system, which hadn’t yielded any results despite the SWM Rules emphasising this aspect of the system.
Atul Goyal, President, United Residents Joint Action (URJA), an apex body of RWAs, said, “The move to club user charges with property tax was implemented without taking into account the ground realities. Only one-third of the city’s dwelling units are registered under the property tax setup and no efforts are evident about MCD bringing the rest under the tax regime. Also, the process of waste collection and segregation of garbage at source is poorly implemented across the city despite spending crores of rupees having been spent and concessionaires engaged for the task.”
He added, “We urge the MCD commissioner to first roll out the mechanism with which the civic body will overcome the above deficiencies within its own system before asking the citizens to fall in line.”
Various other residential groups plan to approach MCD on this matter, especially the zero-waste colonies that have already installed logistics and equipment within their localities for waste segregation, composting, etc. RWAs of Vasant Kunj, Defence Colony, Munirka Vihar and Navjiwan Vihar have their independent waste collection arrangements.
Ruby Makhija, secretary, Navjiwan Vihar RWA, claimed that residents weren’t against the payment of a ‘user fee’ for waste collection, but every household should be charged, not just property tax payers. “Ours is a zero-waste colony and we don’t want residents to face the dual burden of paying charges given that they are already contributing to the waste disposal system we have set up. Either MCD can take over our workforce or we should be given a concession in the user charge,” she said.
CK Rejimon, founder, Dwarka Forum, another apex organisation of residents, stated that if MCD was charging a fee to collect waste from the dumps, the end results did not justify it. “We haven’t seen the landfills being removed in decades. Even the garbage bins or dhalaos are not cleaned regularly. If MCD is talking about SWM Rules, then it should first figure out how many norms it is actually following. Even today, there is no segregation at source across the city. The property tax paid to MCD is only for the purpose of provision of civic services.”
In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court in Sept 2023, MCD said that achieving 90% segregation of waste and transportation compliance by Delhi’s residents would be fulfilled only by Aug 2026.
Vinod Krishna Nair, president, Mayur Green (Pocket D SFS flats, Mayur Vihar III), pointed out that user charges were reflected on the MCD portal from 2022. “At the time, we sent our objection to the deputy commissioner. For any policy decision to impose charges, relief can be given by the deliberative wing. MCD should first collect garbage from households because without offering any direct service, imposing a fee is absolutely unfair and illogical,” said Nair.