Gurugram residents complain to MCG about new contractor’s waste collection charges

According to residents, the new agency is charging a flat rate of ₹100 per month, regardless of the size of their houses

Residents across Gurugram’s four zones have complained to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) regarding the user charges being levied by the new door-to-door waste collection agency, Bimalraj Outsourcing Private Limited, which was contracted by MCG in mid-June, officials said on Friday. Residents say that the agency is charging fees significantly higher than what they paid previously.

The agency is responsible for collecting user charges for door-to-door waste collection services directly from property owners and waste generators. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

However, Bimalraj officials said they have not collected user charges from any resident, and that it is illegal vendors which are charging residents. According to residents, they are paying a flat rate of ₹100 per month to the waste collector, regardless of the size of their houses. Previously, residents were paying a variable amount ranging from ₹60 to ₹100, depending on their house size.

“I was paying ₹50 as user charges for door-to-door waste collection. But the new agency is now charging ₹100 for the same service. There should be clear communication from MCG on how much we need to pay. The previous vendor, Ecogreen, followed the rates set by MCG in 2017, but the new agency is randomly charging ₹100 irrespective of the size of our homes,” said Joginder Singh, former president of the Sector 57 residents’ welfare association (RWA).

“The houses that used to pay ₹25 earlier are now paying ₹100. MCG must also ensure that the charges are uniform and based on the size of our sector. We have 8,000 families living in the sector and we are paying ₹6 lakh extra to the contractor,” said Rajkumar Yadav, president of the Sector 46 RWA.

The agency is responsible for collecting user charges for door-to-door waste collection services directly from property owners and waste generators. According to the work orders allotted, the agency is required to remit 46% of the total collected user charges from Zones 1 and 2 and 48.51% from Zones 3 and 4 to MCG, said officials. Aside from the potential overcharging of residents, the issue raises concerns about revenue loss for MCG because the chief secretary had directed the civic body to collect user charges directly, but the corporation has yet to implement this system.

The complaints come at a time when MCG is planning to overhaul the city’s waste collection system. In July, MCG formed a four-member committee to evaluate the current system and establish a mechanism that would enable the corporation to directly collect user charges, ensuring transparency and fairness. The committee is expected to provide recommendations soon.

MCG joint commissioner for Swachh Bharat Mission, Naresh Kumar, acknowledged the residents’ concerns and assured them that the corporation would act once complaints about arbitrary charges were received. “We do not want people to face any inconvenience,” he said.

Residents, however, said they have complained several times to MCG in the past month. HT has seen several of the complaint letters. Residents have also tagged MCG on social media while highlighting the issue.

MCG had previously prepared draft by-laws for managing solid waste, which propose a user charge based on the area of residential properties. However, these by-laws are yet to be notified and implemented. Residents are now urging the corporation to expedite the process and provide clear guidelines to prevent further discrepancies in waste collection charges.

Captain (retd) MP Singh, project head Bimalraj, said that they are not getting payments from residential areas and unauthorised vendors are collecting user charges. “Despite clear orders from the chief secretary, over a month has passed and the MCG has yet to collect user charges in any area. Meanwhile, we have not collected any user charges until now,” he said.

Bimalraj officials said that they have not collected any user charges since they were given the contract, and it is illegal vendors which are collecting user charges from residents.