Bhubaneswar, Dec. 9: Residents have to pay user fees for garbage collection at their doorsteps, and those found littering public place would be fined Rs 200.
Last week, the state housing and urban development department approved the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation's proposals. The department is making an amendment to the BMC Regulation on User Charges (Amendment), 2014. Once the law department approves it, the proposals will be implemented.
Official sources said the approval 'may come at any moment. The authorities expect the new rules in place by the first week of January'.
At present, no user fees are collected from the residents for door-to-door garbage collection. According to the law, residential households will have to pay between Rs 50 and Rs 200 per month per unit. Houses with up to 80 sqm built-up area will pay Rs 50, while Rs 100 will be charged for houses with the built-up area between 80 and 120 sqm. The fee will be Rs 200 for houses with more areas.
'To strengthen the solid waste management system of the city and provide a clean environment to those residing in Bhubaneswar, the corporation had proposed such user fees. This is a welcome move, and we will implement such system as soon as possible,' said the civic body's pubic relation officer Srimanta Mishra.
Like the residential houses, traders will also have to pay the user fees for their business establishments for solid waste management. Independent shops or those in shopping malls will have to pay between Rs 100 and Rs 500 per month, according to the area they occupy up to 1,000 sqft. For every extra square foot, the shopkeepers will have to pay Rs 5 more. Same is the case with the traders in daily markets or haats, as they have to pay between Rs 100 and Rs 500 depending upon the space they use.
The hotels, dhabas on highways, wine shops, godowns and warehouses, various types of educational institutions, health care units, theatre halls and multiplexes, beauty parlours, saloons and spas, showrooms, service centres and garages, kalyan mandaps, hostels, industries, printing press, government and private offices and petrol pumps have been brought under this user fee collection system. The corporation will also collect the user fees from slum dwellers who have got houses under the Rajiv Awas Yojana.
In addition to this, the government has, for the first time, consented to levy administrative charges on people throwing garbage at public places. A person will pay Rs 200 each time he or she litters a public place. Moreover, people, who are stacking construction or demolition debris on roadsides, will have to pay up to Rs 3,000 per trip of truckload.
'All these steps are taken to discourage people from dumping their garbage on roadsides. This was putting additional burden on the civic body to clean up the roads. The new rule will help keep the roads clean,' said a corporation officer.
The corporation council onSeptember 11 had unanimously approved the proposal of levying the door-to-door garbage collection fee on the residents.
A sub-committee, chaired by the corporation's deputy commissioner Krushna Prasad Pati, had worked out the proposal to levy user fees on various units. 'The collection of user fees has been necessitated to make the civic body self-sufficient financially,' said Pati.
The corporation has also proposed to raise fees at public parking lots. Earlier, one had to pay Rs 2 for parking a two-wheeler or three-wheeler for four hours, but after the new rule comes into effect, Rs 5 will be charged for the same. Similarly, four-wheelers will have to pay Rs 20 for parking their vehicles instead of Rs 10 for four hours.
