BHUBANESWAR: Staging a protest at the designated dharna sites in the Capital City will now be chargeable. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to collect fee from the protestors towards administrative and sanitation purposes.
The corporation stated that a fee of `500 will be collected for a gathering up to 100 people while it will be `1,000 per day from a group consisting of 100 to 500 members. For every extra person beyond 500, the corporation will charge `5 per head per day. The fee will be used towards administrative and sanitation charges for cleaning the garbage from dharna place or any other site of public meetings, sources in the corporation said.
Besides this, the BMC will also charge `5,000 per day from marriage parties and other processions.
The organisers of such processions can deposit the fee at the respective zonal offices of the corporation. Before taking permission from the competent licensing authorities, the organisers of public meetings, marriage processions and others will also have to take a consent letter from the BMC.
“The organisers will be refrained from using polythene bags as it is against the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. Similarly, litter on public places or roads will not be allowed,” a BMC official said.
The corporation has also warned against open defecation and deposit of debris or construction materials on the road. To ensure that the orders are adhered to, the corporation has decided to impose fine on the violators.
The order which has been implemented with immediate effect comes after Additional Chief Secretary, Home, had chaired a meeting on August 5. BMC officials said, the decision was not taken for generating revenue but for curbing dumping of garbage on the city roads.