The Pune Municipal Corporation has urged the state government to allow it to decide the penalty for violation of solid waste management by-laws in areas under its jurisdiction. The government, on December 19, had proposed by-laws according to the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, stating that civic bodies across the state had failed to meet the deadline set by the central government.
The government has sought suggestions and objections from the civic bodies if they wanted some changes. “The PMC had drafted the by-laws long before the government. The by-laws were pending approval following which they were to be implemented by the civic administration. But the government has drafted its own by-laws for all the civic bodies that will be applicable to the PMC as well,” said Dnyaneshwar Molak, joint municipal commissioner and in-charge of the solid waste management department, PMC.
He added that the PMC had raised an objection to the penalty fixed. “The user charges and penalty fixed by the government are less. The situation in each civic body varies, so the PMC has suggested that the government should let civic bodies decide the user charges and penalty,” he said.
According to the by-laws prepared by the government, the civic bodies can charge Rs 90 as monthly user fee from offices and commercial properties, instead of Rs 100 as decided by the PMC.
For restaurants and lodging hotels, the government charges are Rs 120 and Rs 150 per month as compared to Rs 500 per month by the PMC. In case of hospitals, educational institutions, religious institutions, offices, and marriage halls, the government has asked for Rs 120, Rs 90 and Rs 300, respectively, instead of Rs 500.
For residential properties, owners have to pay Rs 60 per month for collection of waste from home while the PMC had decided on Rs 50. It has also fixed the user charges of Rs 180 for hawkers while the PMC was collecting Rs 50 from them. For residential properties, the PMC fines Rs 200, Rs 300 and Rs 400 for non-segregation of waste in the first, second and third instances, while the government has allowed Rs 60, Rs 120 and Rs 180. For bulk generators, the PMC penalty was Rs 500, Rs 750 and Rs 1,000 in the first, second and third instances while the government has kept it at Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000.
