Delhi MCD budget: Sanitation gets 28.9% of budget

The civic body also plans to expand its green initiatives by developing five additional micro-forests using the Miyawaki technique

With an outlay of ₹4,907.1 crore, the management and improvement of sanitation in Delhi received more than a quarter (28.86%) of the total expenditure in the budget presented by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner Ashwani Kumar on Thursday

MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar presents the Budget for 2025-26 during the special Budget meeting at Civic Centre in New Delhi on Thursday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Kumar, while presenting a ₹17,002.6-crore budget for 2025-26, also announced a plan to integrate the birth and death registration process with Aadhaar.

He announced plans to acquire heavy equipment, including mechanical road sweepers, super-sucker machines, and garbage compacting stations. He said that MCD will set up 12 vehicular sanitation squads to conduct random checks, impose fines, and oversee private concessionaires managing garbage collection across 12 administrative zones.

Several major drainage projects were also proposed, including redeveloping the Taimoor Nagar drain in New Friends Colony (at a cost of ₹3.38 crore) and constructing a new outfall drain from Sangam Vihar to Mehrauli-Badarpur Road (for ₹11.9 crore).

The commissioner outlined measures to streamline governance, such as linking birth certificates with Aadhaar to generate Aadhaar numbers at birth, launching a unified e-bike and e-cycle system for Delhi, and conducting GIS mapping of all properties.

Sanitation and mechanisation

The commissioner said that MCD currently operates four waste-to-energy plants processing 6,550 tonnes of waste daily, and two more plants are in the pipeline: a 3,600-tonne facility at Narela Bawana and another at Ghazipur, expected to be operational by December 2027 and 2028, respectively.

“With these two plants, dumping of fresh waste will be completely stopped at landfill sites,” he added.

To improve desilting and prevent waterlogging, MCD will procure four super sucker machines, 14 truck-mounted road sweepers, and 12 sanitation squad vehicles. These squads will monitor cleanliness, enforce sanitation bylaws, and oversee waste collection by private firms.

“Sanitation squads will carry out random inspections across the city to assess the work of cleanliness and sanitation. These will impose fines on people and institutions violating sanitation bylaws and they will also monitor the waste collection and processing work by the private companies,” he added.

MCD plans to operationalize three Bio-CBG/CNG plants — two in Okhla and Ghogha Dairy by June 2025 and another in Ghazipur by December 2026. These plants will process 750 metric tons of vegetative waste daily. A separate 50-tonne plastic waste processing plant will be set up in Dwarka. Additionally, 30 new public toilets will be installed across the city next year.

Linking birth certificate with Aadhar

The commissioner also announced a plan to integrate the birth and death registration process with Aadhaar. “Under this proposal, newborns will receive an Aadhaar number at birth registration. A mobile application will also be launched to digitize birth and death records,” he said. In 2024-25, MCD received 3,15,461 birth registration and 1,18,183 death registration applications by January 31.

A new unified policy for e-bikes, e-cycles, and bicycles is also expected, with MCD developing 148 e-bike and e-cycle stands to improve last-mile connectivity.

MCD will undertake ₹15.3 crore worth of drainage redevelopment, including the Sangam Vihar drain project, which will run from G Block past the shooting range to MB Road, alleviating waterlogging issues.

The civic body also plans to expand its green initiatives by developing five additional micro-forests using the Miyawaki technique, adding to the eight already created. Additionally, five theme-based children’s parks are being planned to enhance urban recreational spaces.