BHUBANESWAR: There will not be any collection towards user fees for the financial year 2015-16, announced Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena here on Thursday. The citizens, who have already paid this fee, will be eligible for adjustment in the current financial year.
The Mayor announced this citizen-friendly move at a meeting convened in the conference hall of BMC. “There has been a miscommunication on the issue of user fee collection. Citizens think this fee to be a part of Smart City project,” Jena said and added that this fee is being collected towards Solid Waste Management of the City which is already mentioned in Section 193 of Odisha Municipal Corporation Act which authorises ULBs to collect the fee.
BMC will put in more efforts to monitor solid waste management through its officials. Private organisations, which are engaged in door-to-door collection of waste, will be under the scanner of officials and fine will be imposed if satisfactory service is not rendered by them. The cancellation of user fee will be discussed in next BMC meeting which is scheduled on Monday. Jena said it is inevitable for BMC to collect user fee towards a clean and healthy city. Citizens can avail special rebate if they pay entire fee at once for the financial year 2016-17.