Garbage ‘user fee’ triggers new war of words in MCD

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday alleged that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), on directions of its commissioner, has “unilaterally” begun to levy a garbage user fee for solid waste management from the Capital’s residents.

MCD, however, dismissed the allegations and said that the user fee for sanitary services was notified in 2018. Officials said they plan to levy these charges at the time users pay their property taxes. There are around 1.3 million properties which pay property tax in Delhi, and the move is likely to yield the corporation more than ₹100 crore annually.

Speaking at a press conference, AAP leader and mayor Mahesh Kumar Khichi called the charges, which range from ₹50 to ₹200, an assault on the “pockets of Delhi’s citizens”.

“The commissioner bypassed the elected house and arbitrarily linked these charges to property tax, a move which will unfairly inflate the tax burden on residents already grappling with economic pressures. We are demanding an immediate rollback as this decision is anti-people and procedurally illegitimate,” he said at a press conference.

Leader of the house Mukesh Goel said that the sanitation department has linked user charges to property tax bills without any consultation or transparency. “80–85% of homes in Delhi do not receive door-to-door garbage collection from MCD contractors. Citizens are paying private workers ₹100–200 every month for this. Despite that, they are now being taxed again under the guise of user charges,” he said.

“Instead of fulfilling its obligations, MCD is penalising the 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,” Goel said.

Responding to the AAP, an MCD spokesperson said the user fee for garbage collection services was notified in 2018, and said that the implementation of the solid waste management rules is being monitored by the Supreme Court.

“The Government of NCT of Delhi notified Solid Waste Management Bye-laws 2017 vide Gazette Notifications dated January 15, 2018 for the then erstwhile three Corporations. As per the said Bye-laws a user fee is to be collected for providing services for garbage collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste. The fee was same for all the three erstwhile Corporations. The user fee as notified is being enforced,” the spokesperson said in a statement.