KOCHI: Even as the corporation is planning to overhaul the existing waste management model, the opposition has raised concerns over the decision to hike the user fee for biomedical waste collection in the city. The health standing committee had proposed to raise the user fee from Rs 12 to Rs 24 per kg.
The current fee was fixed during the LDF term and an incinerator was installed exclusively to process biomedical waste like diapers, napkins, and other such materials. Now, the UDF administration has decided to limit the user fee subsidy of Rs 12 to the bedridden, palliative patients, extremely poor, and those with disabilities.
Seeking an intervention in the matter, parliamentary party leader V A Sreejith and other LDF councillors had staged a protest at the corporation office.
Sreejith alleged that while increasing the user fee, the corporation should also ensure the timely collection of biomedical waste.
“Earlier, the sanitation staff collected biomedical and sanitary waste, like diapers, within a week’s interval. Now, it takes more than 20 days. Moreover, the residents have been asked to take the waste to certain collection points instead of collecting it at the doorstep,” Sreejith alleged.
People have been complaining about the inconvenience of having to carry large sacks of biomedical waste to collection points within the time frame specified. Sreejith alleged that the corporation has entrusted a private firm named Success Projects with the task of collecting the biomedical waste. The vehicles the corporation bought for waste collection were also handed over to the private firm, according to the opposition. Though the LDF did submit a dissent note to the corporation, urging it to refrain from increasing the user fee, the council decided to go ahead with the plan.
The opposition has asked the corporation to ensure the subsidised rate of Rs 12 for all. According to norms, the maximum rate that can be charged for biomedical waste has been fixed Rs.45, which is generally charged on commercial enterprises.
Meanwhile, Mayor Minimol V K said that the issue came up for discussion in the council after being considered in the health standing committee and that the opposition did not express any dissent at the time. She added that the decision to increase the user fee was essential considering the large expense the corporation faces when it comes to waste management.
