Housing societies protest against Manesar civic body's sanitation charge

Time of India

6 days ago

GURUGRAM
: Thousands of residents of group housing societies living in new sectors are up in arms against imposition of sanitation charges by MCM despite no door-to-door waste collection services by the corporation.
In what residents call an "arbitrary and coercive" collection under the guise of municipal taxation, MCM has appended sanitation tax to their property tax bills even though no civic worker has ever entered their compounds for waste pickup.
The charges, enforced without service, are not just causing inconvenience — they block transactions like property sales and lease agreements, since a No Dues Certificate (NDC) cannot be obtained unless the tax is paid. They pointed out that the directorate of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) earlier instructed MCM to levy such charges only where door-to-door garbage collection is provided.
On Monday, representatives from several housing societies met with additional commissioner Jitender Kumar and submitted a memorandum demanding an immediate waiver of the sanitation charges.
"Why are we paying for something we never received? Our society spends around Rs 7 lakh every month on sanitation managed by us, yet MCM forces us to pay again just to get a No Dues Certificate. This is nothing short of coercion," said Dharmvir Singh, president of
Mapsko Casabella RWA
.
In a letter to the MCM commissioner, RWAs have demanded an independent forensic audit of sanitation deployment records and expenditure, alongside the immediate rollback of the charges and legal action against any officials involved in violating the ULB order.
"This is not just about money. It's about defiance of a govt directive. If civic bodies start charging residents without service and ignore state orders, we are no longer a rule-based society," said Kumar Ashok, president of
Bestech Grand Spa RWA
. RWAs have warned that if corrective steps are not taken, they will approach the State Lokayukta, Vigilance Bureau, and even the high court for relief.
Some RWA representatives also met the MCM commissioner last week, urging the removal of sanitation charges from group housing societies classified as bulk waste generators (BWGs). "This is a double whammy on residents," said Praveen Malik, president of Rising Homes RWA.
"While MCM organises meetings for tax collection and property ID verification, it has ignored our grievances. We manage waste collection internally through empanelled vendors under the BWG framework. We segregate waste at source, maintain records, and bear all operational costs ourselves."
When asked, an MCM official defended the corporation's position, saying, "This is a state policy that mandates collection of sanitation charges in municipal areas. If the state revises the policy, we will waive the charges—but we cannot do it on our own."