Bhubaneswar, June 12: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has urged the directorate of medical education and training to ask more hospitals and nursing homes in the city to register with its Express Cleaning Service.

The civic body had introduced this service in 2011 to lift waste from various private establishments such as hospitals, nursing homes, kalyan mandaps (wedding venues), hotels and private hostels on payment of a monthly fee.

Sources in the corporation said only 50 out of 149 hospitals and nursing homes had availed the service so far.

“Of the 50 registered medical institutions, only 17 are paying user fees, although not regularly. The user fee of the cleaning service is quite nominal. Though the establishments have been provided with uninterrupted service, they have failed to pay their dues in spite of several reminders,” said municipal commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra.

The civic body collects an amount of Rs 4,000 every month for lifting non-medical waste.

But the corporation also plans to fix new charges taking into account the number of beds in each private hospital and nursing home.

“We are working out a proposal to rationalise the user fee for the health care institutions on the basis of the number of beds they have and the quantum of garbage generated. Once the proposal is passed by the council, it will be sent to the housing and urban development department for approval,” said city health officer C.P. Das.

The municipal commissioner also said he would discuss the matter with the authorities of housing and urban development department and ask it to convene a meeting with all stakeholders for further action.

The city generates 450 metric tonnes of solid waste every day.

However, director of medical education and training Sonamali Bag said he was yet to get any communication from the civic body in this regard.

On the other hand, city residents alleged that the civic body was not taking any action against kalyan mandaps, which were responsible for bad sanitation in the city. “The vicinity of kalyan mandaps is nearly always filthy. The civic body should take a stringent action against these establishments,” said Prasant Das, a resident of VSS Nagar.