PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) on Monday distributed user charge cheques worth Rs 20 lakh to 47 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) engaged in door-to-door waste collection under the Central and State governments’ Lakhpati Didi initiative. Dehradun mayor Saurabh Thapliyal and municipal commissioner Alok Kumar Pandey handed over the cheques to women SHGs members. Addressing the gathering, Thapliyal said that the Lakhpati Didi initiative is helping women associated with SHGs become financially independent. He said that the MCD is providing dignified employment and a regular source of income by involving women in sanitation services. SHGs have strengthened the door-to-door waste collection system while ensuring a stable livelihood for hundreds of families, he said, while adding that MCD plans to involve more SHGs in sanitation activities.
Pandey said that the State government has given priority to women empowerment, self-employment and livelihood generation. The user charges collected for door-to-door waste collection are distributed among SHGs in a transparent manner, helping increase women’s income and take them closer to the goal of becoming Lakhpati Didis. The MCD will keep supporting SHGs by giving them jobs, teaching them skills, making them stronger and paying them for work, he added.
According to the MCD, user charge collection stood at Rs 64.19 lakh during the second quarter in July-September 2025, Rs 51.38 lakh in the third quarter in October-December 2025 and Rs 81.62 lakh in the fourth quarter in January-March 2026, taking the total collection for 2025-26 to Rs 1.97 crore.
Based on fourth-quarter performance, Adarsh SHG of Balawala ward topped the list with a collection of Rs 5.83 lakh, followed by Apeksha SHG of Rajpur ward with Rs 3.59 lakh and Katyayani Aajeevika SHG of Nehru Gram ward with Rs 3.30 lakh.
