Municipal Corporation of Delhi revives garbage user fee, tiers based on colony profiles

Colonies in categories A to D will fall in the higher slab, while those in categories E to H will pay half that amount.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to make a fresh attempt to levy garbage user charges on households across the Capital, this time dividing residential colonies into two payment slabs based on their economic status, senior municipal officials aware of the matter said.

Garbage user charges are municipal fees levied on residents and businesses for the collection, transportation and scientific disposal of solid waste. (HT Photo/Representational)

Under the proposal, being drawn up as part of the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, colonies in categories A to D will fall in the higher slab, while those in categories E to H will pay half that amount. The actual charges are yet to be finalised, said officials.

The move marks a return of the contentious levy after an attempt by MCD to collect garbage user charges along with property tax last year triggered stiff resistance from councillors and taxpayers and was eventually made optional on the property-tax portal.

Garbage user charges are municipal fees levied on residents and businesses for the collection, transportation and scientific disposal of solid waste.

A senior municipal official said the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, allow local bodies to levy user fees on waste generators in accordance with their by-laws.

Under the proposal, colonies in categories A to D — Delhi’s colonies are categorised from A to H for circle rates, with H being the lowest category — will fall in the first slab, while the remaining colonies will be placed in the second.

“The amount has not been finalised as yet but the lower slab will pay 50% of the fee fixed for upscale colonies,” the official added.

Category A colonies include Vasant Vihar, Shanti Niketan, Maharani Bagh, New Friends Colony and Anand Niketan, while Category B includes Defence Colony, Nizamuddin East, Greater Kailash, Hauz Khas, Green Park and Safdarjung Enclave.

Category E includes residential colonies in older parts of the city and specific extensions such as Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Khirki Extension, Pandav Nagar and Moti Nagar.

The lower categories include unauthorised colonies.

Responding to HT’s queries, an MCD spokesperson said: “The SWM 2026 by-laws are under process. The file is currently being scrutinised by the law department. We should be able to issue them shortly.” The spokesperson added that implementation was likely to begin only in the next financial year.

A second MCD official said the charges notified earlier were based on the size of the dwelling. Under the by-laws notified in 2018, the monthly user fee was ₹50 for dwelling units measuring up to 50 sqm, ₹100 for those measuring 50-200 sqm and ₹200 for those above 200 sqm.

For commercial establishments, the fee was ₹100 per month for vendors and ₹2,000 per month for guest houses, with larger establishments placed under different slabs.

Atul Goel, who heads URJA, an umbrella body of resident welfare associations, said MCD had attempted to levy garbage user charges in the past, but had no moral right to collect them unless it improved service delivery and ensured door-to-door waste collection.

“They are not even able to manage dhalaos. The 2016 Solid Waste Management Rules asked municipalities to integrate informal-sector workers into the system. Around 70-80% of households are already paying some form of charge to their local informal waste collector. Why should they make a double payment to MCD as well? Integrate the informal sector, improve service delivery and then ask for charges; otherwise, it will always be met with resistance,” he added.

MCD began levying the garbage user charge in April 2025, under the 2018 by-laws, by linking it to annual property-tax payments. The move, which was not cleared by either the standing committee or the MCD House, triggered large-scale opposition from councillors and taxpayers who demanded its rollback.

On May 21, MCD passed a resolution seeking “suspension of garbage user charge.

The resolution sought the formation of a committee to review the user charges and said the levy should be kept in abeyance until a new policy was framed based on the committee’s report. No such report has been submitted till date.

In June 2025, after two months of controversy over the mandatory levy, MCD made payment of the garbage user charge optional on its property-tax submission portal.