Door-to-Door garbage collection fees in Dehradun set to go up

The municipal corporation plans on handing over the door-to-door garbage collection to a private firm once the Shishambara waste management plant becomes operational. Following which user charges will be incremented by 10% every two years. At present, the nigam collects Rs 40 from every household that avails of the service.

“The gazette notification which was made in 2009 had the provision that the user charges would be revised by 10% but we haven’t done it till now. Once the service is privatized in December, the firm will follow this rule and increase user fees by 10% every two years,” said Dr Kailash Gunjyal, health officer of Dehradun Nagar Nigam.

The move has been hailed by the residents who claim that the increase in user charges might ensure better services. Dr Mahesh Bhandari, president, Doon Residents’ Welfare Front, said, “What we pay right now is a negligible amount which probably doesn’t even cover the salaries of sanitation workers. Privatization will do away with these problems and the company will ensure that work is done on time as they will be make profits through the service.”