Berhampur, Nov. 1: The local civic body plans to charge user fees for solid waste management from hotels, lodges, fast-food centres, shopping malls, nursing homes and other commercial establishments.

This was decided at a meeting of the standing committee of finance and tax of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation yesterday. However, the amount of the user fee and the date from which it will be collected have not been decided upon as yet.

"This user fee will help us streamline solid waste management. In the long run, we can make Berhampur a garbage-free city. The city generates about 150 metric tonnes of garbage every day," said city health officer Subhakanta Das.

"Hotels, fast-food centres, shopping malls, nursing homes and other commercial establishments are dumping their garbage in public places indiscriminately. It has become a big concern for all of us," said member of the standing committee and ward No. 3 councillor Ashok Kumar Shukla.

"We will ask the owners of these establishments to keep a dustbin and store their wastes in it instead of throwing it in public places.

"The sanitation staff of the corporation will clean these dustbins every day and the user fee will be adjusted towards transportation of the garbage," he said.

"All hotels and lodges will be divided into four categories and the user fees will be fixed accordingly. Owners of nursing homes are advised to dump their waste in separate dustbins. Fast-food centres generate more waste and we will collect higher user fees from them to keep the roads cleaner. We have also decided to collect fines from those who violate the order," said civic commissioner Susant Kumar Mishra.

"But the exact amount of the user fee to be collected from various commercial establishments is yet to be finalised.

"We will further discuss the issue and take a decision later after thoroughly examining the modalities and legal aspects," said the civic body's chief finance officer Siba Patra.