Delhi residents flag gaps in waste management amid new rules, user fee levy

New DelhiResidents’ bodies across Delhi expressed concerns over inadequate door-to-door collection and lack of integration of informal waste collectors into the system, while experts called for a more layered approach amid the New Delhi Municipal Council finalising its 2026 byelaws and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) currently working on its rules

New Delhi

An overflowing dhalao in south Delhi. (HT Archive)

Residents’ bodies across Delhi expressed concerns over inadequate door-to-door collection and lack of integration of informal waste collectors into the system, while experts called for a more layered approach amid the New Delhi Municipal Council finalising its 2026 byelaws and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) currently working on its rules.

A day earlier, HT reported that the MCD is planning to introduce a two-tier user fee, based on the circle rate categorisation of colonies.

Residents’ associations said that they would not object to a nominal fee if the civic body could demonstrate reliable service delivery.

BS Vohra, who heads the East Delhi Residents’ Welfare Association Joint Front, said, “There are heaps of garbage on every nook and corner. Dhalaos are overflowing and landfills are badly managed. People will agree to pay but who will ensure that Delhi is kept clean?”

Atul Goel, who heads URJA, an umbrella body of RWAs, said that the proposal also needed to account for the parallel waste collection network that has emerged because of gaps in municipal services. “People pay their local garbage collectors. Why should they pay MCD for its failure?” he said.

“Around 70-80% of households are already paying some form of charge to their local informal waste collector. Why can’t MCD concessionaires integrate them in the system?” he said.

Ashok Bhasin, who heads the North Delhi Residents Welfare Federation, said that the residents already pay house tax to the MCD for such basic services. “Only outer main streets are swept; inner lanes are not even cleaned by MCD. For door-to-door collection, shops and houses already employ private informal workers. Who will employ these thousands and thousands of informal workers if MCD forces people to pay separately?” he said.

In the past, the introduction of a garbage fee in MCD areas has met stiff resistance from the political wing and residents. In its last attempt, the MCD began levying the garbage user charge in April 2025, under the 2018 byelaws, by linking it to annual property-tax payments, which triggered large-scale opposition leading to a roll back in June.

Waste management expert Bharati Chaturvedi, founder and director of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, said the focus should also be on redesigning concessionaire contracts and covering low-resource areas. “We should focus on optimising the low-resource colonies and pick waste from every single corner. Around one third of Delhi would fall in this category. We should retrofit concessionaire contract to include horticulture and construction waste,” she said.

Chaturvedi also said free doorstep collection should not extend to larger generators, such as colonies with more than 100 households, markets, shopping complexes and hotels, arguing that such an approach would conflict with the requirement of solid waste management rules.