BENGALURU: With the BBMP striving to impose user fee for garbage collection and management, amidst opposition from many political circles, the State Government has sent back the proposal seeking clarification.
The BBMP had made a proposal before the government that instead of collecting user fee from door-to-door, it should be collected along with water and electricity bills. The proposal was sent to the government for acceptance and announcement in the upcoming session. But before implementing it, the government has sought clarity and has accordingly sent back the proposal with some queries.
The list of questions include the amount to be collected, under which category, what is the target population from whom the fee is to be collected, and how the slabs will be fixed when the fee would be collected from other civic agencies, the taxation system, slabs for calculating the fee and details of the cost-sharing agreement with other agencies, the BBMP and the solid waste management company formed.
“Many questions have been asked and we are working on them. The replies will be sent to the government for approval and implementation. Collection of user fee is mentioned in the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2019. It has also been directed by the CAG,” BBMP Joint Commissioner, SWM, Sarfaraz Khan said.
However, many former corporators continue to voice out against imposition of user fee, maintaining that it will be an additional burden on citizens. Experts, however, are mixed in their opinions. While some state that garbage collection is a part of the municipality’s duties, others opine that imposition of charges will make it a service and the government will be liable to act on the payments being made.