Outrage as Delhi’s north MCD charges residential societies for waste generation

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has issued notices to several group housing societies in Rohini, asking them to pay user charges for garbage collection, identifying the condominiums as “bulk waste producers”. The move, however, has drawn sharp criticism by the residents groups who have described the measure as unfair.

Delhi Solid Waste Management Bye-Laws 2018 mandate levying user charges on bulk waste generators, but the three municipal corporations have only been charging it from commercial bulk producers such as hotels, banquet halls, etc. RWAs in Rohini said that North MCD was trying to extend the same charges to residential areas.

Somdutt Sharma, managing committee member of RWA in Dena Apartments, Rohini Sector-13, said the sanitation department of the North MCD has sent notices to them for initiating a fee for lifting garbage. “We received the first notice from Rohini DEMS department (sanitation) on February 18. They want the managing committee to sign a user agreement. The residents are opposed to the charge since locals cannot be identified as bulk producers of waste,” Sharma said.

The move comes at a time when the city is headed for a crucial elections to the three municipal corporations in Delhi.

Vedprakash Rathi, who heads the federation of Rohini Co-operative Group Housing Societies, confirmed that several group housing societies in the area have received the notice. “There is resentment among people. Residential units are not charged user fee anywhere in Delhi, and it seems they (civic body) want to initiate the process from societies. What is the utility of the corporation then?,” he said.

Rathi added that the societies are being asked to sign service agreement with waste collection concessionaire, according to which ₹100 per flat per month will be required to be paid. For instance, Dena apartments in Sec-13 with 120 flats will be required to pay ₹12,000 per month, he said.

Ritu Goel, chairperson of Rohini municipal zone, said the notices have been issued according to the court orders and bylaws, but the residents will not have to pay user charge “for the time being”. “I have contacted the officials as soon as I got to know about these notices. If societies make provision of drums for separate collection of dry, wet and hazardous waste, that will be sufficient. For the time being, residents will not have to pay any user fee,” she added.

A North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said a dedicated online module for collection of user charges has been developed, but it is unlikely that user charges will be levied any time soon.

According to the bye-laws, under the residential category, municipal bodies are allowed to charge ₹50 per month for dwellings up to 50 sqm area, ₹100 for 50 to 200 sqm area dwelling units, and ₹200 for houses above 200 square metre area. Instead of using plot-area of houses to decide user charges for lifting municipal solid waste, the NCR planning board has suggested use of ‘Pay as you throw policy’ to directly link user charges with the amount of waste generated. The draft regional plan-2041 for NCR envisages that consumers have to pay for volume of garbage that they generate and nothing or a minimal fee for recycling. It sets a deadline for creating a “Zero Waste NCR” by 2035.