User charges for the door-to-door collection of garbage will be raised only after the execution of this system improves to a satisfactory level. This and other decisions were taken in the board meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun on Wednesday.
Presiding over the board meeting, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli said that since DVWM company ended its door-to-door collection of garbage, the corporation has been undertaking this work on its own. Councillors agreed when he said that user charges for this service should be increased only after the facility improves satisfactorily. Some councillors complained that not all user charges being collected from homes and commercial buildings were being deposited in the corporation. On the question of passing a proposal to blacklist the SPMl company which ran the joint venture, DVWM with MCD, Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat said that the company alone could not be blamed for anomalies in the solid waste management project as the corporation too had failed to get the EIA done and secure the environmental clearance on time. The MCD will facilitate tender process for conducting Animal Birth Control work on stray dogs in town and failing this would hold negotiations with organisations interested in undertaking this work. A shelter for pigs left to stray in the open would also be established away from human settlement due to the noise the pigs make. Regarding the proposed increase of show tax on picture halls to Rs 2,500 per show and Rs 5,000 per show on multiplexes, the councillors opined that this would be too high. The proposal was however passed with scope for amendment in the future after hearing and redressal of the persons concerned to the by-laws to be framed for this purpose. The corporation is also considering imposing a charge on the advertisements screened in cinema halls. When it was revealed that little had been done by municipal officials on the directions of the MCD executive for increasing fees for various licenses issued by the corporation, the Mayor remarked that the corporation was earning just enough revenue to pay its employees while official inefficiency was preventing it from increasing its revenues as a result of which the elected public representatives continue to face public dissatisfaction.
Chamoli also exhorted the board members to unite against encroachment. Citing the example of encroachment in Bhramawala, he said that the MCD had undertaken three big demolition drives there in the past, but later some politicians had ensured that the corporation did not receive police support of its anti-encroachment drive. He said that political leaders of various parties are responsible for such encroachments as they continue to prevent their removal. The mayor further said that he had approved Rs50 lakh for renovation and beautification of the Clock Tower, adding that if the Government doesn’t provide funds, the corporation will spend Rs one crore from its own resources to develop Gandhi Park and then consider the option of introducing ticket system for the park.