Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: A tussle broke out on Monday between Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s executive and deliberative wings over the civic body’s decision to incorporate user charges for garbage collection in property tax bills.
Mayor Mahesh Kumar and Leader of the House Mukesh Goel, who are part of MCD’s deliberative wing, expressed their disapproval of MCD’s move, although the civic body maintained it complied with the notified norms. Addressing a press conference at Civic Centre, Kumar said such policies typically require a systematic approach, including comprehensive garbage collection services for all households.
“We started receiving complaints from residents who tried generating the property tax bill from the MCD app. They claimed the civic body is attaching user charges for door-to-door collection of solid waste. This, despite numerous colonies already having private waste collectors. The charges were implemented without any coordination with informal waste collectors,” claimed Kumar.
“During our tenure, no such proposal ever came. I wrote to the commissioner expressing strong objection to the decision and its timing. While the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules were established in 2018, the implementation was inexplicably delayed till now,” said the mayor.
Goel, meanwhile, claimed sanitation services provided by MCD were “deteriorating”, and in certain zones, the concessionaire was not even lifting garbage from the roadside as the contract with MCD had expired.
“Even the tippers collecting garbage from areas are not available in sufficient numbers, so residents can’t use the services. So why would they pay the taxes? Moreover, why should only the eligible taxpayers pay the charges, when there are so many properties in Delhi that are not in the tax net and are generating garbage every day?” Goel said, adding they will take “strong steps” if MCD doesn’t retract the decision.
According to Goel, since 2016, BJP-led Centre has failed to implement the SWM programme. “Even after nine years, 80-85% of homes in Delhi don’t receive door-to-door garbage collection from MCD contractors. Instead of fulfilling its obligations, MCD is penalising people with dual taxation. There has been no coordination between private waste collectors and MCD’s concessionaires. There hasn’t even been a single meeting between them. Before even thinking of levying user charges, MCD must first clean up its act and deliver the services it promises,” he said.
In 2018-19, he added, all three municipal corporations had agreed that such charges would be collected only from commercial properties, not from residences.
An official from MCD’s executive wing said the SWM rules have a provision for levying user charges for collection of garbage. “The step has been taken in accordance with the notified norms. There are rates provided for residential and commercial sectors, so there is no question of getting them approved by the House. Moreover, even if the private concessionaire is collecting waste, it is automatically being dumped at the MCD dhaloa, and the civic body is held responsible for its end-to-end processing,” said the official.
The official added the move aims to ensure efficient collection and disposal of the waste collected from neighbourhoods.
Later, in a statement, MCD said, “Delhi govt notified SWM bylaws vide gazette notifications dated Jan 15, 2018 for the then erstwhile three corporations. As per the bylaws, a user fee is to be collected for providing services for garbage collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste. The fee was the same for all the three erstwhile corporations. The user fee as notified is being enforced.”
It added that the implementation of SWM Rules is being monitored by the Supreme Court.
Mayank Rawat
