Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to impose user charges on citizens for proper management of solid waste. The PMC has tabled a proposal to charge minimum Rs 100 to maximum Rs 500 user charges based on annual rateable value of property tax. If the proposal is approved, citizen will have to pay a minimum amount of Rs 1,200 per year along with property tax.
“The PMC collects, segregates, transports and processes garbage. It is spending more than Rs 400 crore on waste management. On the other hand, the civic body faces a crunch of Rs 200 to Rs 250 crore per year for garbage management. Hence, we have proposed user charges. There is a provision in solid waste rules-2008 to collect user charges,” said Dnyaneshwar Molak, Joint Municipal Commissioner of solid waste management department.
The civic administration has tabled this proposal for its approval in the Standing Committee. The committee’s meeting is scheduled next week. It has been linked with Annual Rateable Value (ARV) of property tax. As per the calculation carried out by PMC, user charges vary from Rs 100 to Rs 500 per month based on ARV of property tax. It will be included in property tax bills.
According to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the city generates 2,000 tonnes of garbage daily out of which around 1,300 tonnes is wet garbage. The PMC is facing problems in door to door garbage collection.
At present, there are more than 12 lakh households in the city. Out of that, the PMC has so far reached 40 per cent of the households; of which only 80 per cent pay monthly charges to SWaCH but it is not compulsory. Primary garbage collection is the most vital part to solve garbage problem.
Right now, Indore Municipal Corporation is collecting user charges compulsorily on monthly basis. It is collecting Rs 60 from residential and Rs 90 from commercial establishment per month. They have appointed four persons with a van for every 1,000 households to collect garbage daily. There are total 4 lakh households in Indore.
