AMC unlikely to collect user fee for waste before polls

Aurangabad: With the elections just around the corner, the civic administration is likely to defer the drive of collecting a user fee from citizens for waste collection.

Incidentally, the municipal corporations are authorised to collect a user fee from residents and commercial establishments for doorstep waste collection. In August 3, 2018, the general body of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) passed a resolution to impose user fee on those availing the benefit of the civic body’s waste collection service.

The resolution mandates households to pay Re 1 a day i.e Rs 365 a year to the civic body for waste collection. Small commercial units are to be charged Rs 730 a year and hotels and bigger commercial units Rs 10 to 100 every year depending on the quantum of waste produced.

A decision was taken to implement the collection of user fee after the private agency engaged for waste collection began its services. The agency started its work in February 2019. Subsequently, the AMC had decided to appoint an agency for collecting user fee.

During his budget presentation for the fiscal 2019-2020 in June 2019, former municipal commissioner Nipun Vinayak had enunciated that collecting a user fee from waste producers was one of the key measures to improve the financial situation of the civic body.

Incidentally, user fee for waste collection is one of the parameters on which cities are scored in the nationwide cleanliness survey Swachh Survekshan. The civic administration aspires to finish in top 100 cities in the cleanliness survey this year.

The decision had evoked mixed reactions from residents. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena protested against the civic body for putting ‘financial burden on residents’. According to residents, apart from Swachh Bharat cess of 0.5%, they were also paying for cleanliness charges along with property tax. However, in the wake of the forthcoming general elections of the AMC, the imposition of user fee seems unlikely before April.

Since taking charge of his office in December, municipal commissioner Astik Kumar Pandey has repeatedly stressed on taking steps to improve the financial condition of the civic body. When asked, assistant commissioner and tax officer Karan Chavan said that he was not aware of the user fee collection and that he would seek the details of the resolution passed by the general body.