The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has gone ahead in collecting user fee from citizens of the State capital city from Tuesday for effective solid waste management in the city.
At a councillors’ meeting held on Monday, the civic body had decided to collect user fee from individual households, slums, malls, shops, hotels, restaurants and eateries for hygiene and cleanliness and effective disposal of solid waste.
With this, the BMC aims to collect a revenue of nearly Rs 10 crore annually. The user fee would range between Rs 10 a day to Rs 1,000 per month.
For residents willing to pay annual fee, the BMC has decided to waive three month’s fee.
The BMC would open ward offices at all the 67 wards in the city for better management. The Mayor would write to General Administration department to provide land for this purpose.
People residing in slums have to pay Rs 50 per household per month. The fee for EWS and lIG houses (up to 80 sqmt), MIG (80-120 sqmt) and HIG (above 120 sqmt) is Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 200 per month, respectively. A fine of Rs 200 would be imposed for littering garbage in public places.
The dwellers having availed houses under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) would also have to pay user fee of Rs 50 per month. The defaulters would be excluded from the beneficiary list.This decision has irked the Basti Basinta Mahasangha, a slum-dwellers’ body.