MC may impose service charges to lift garbage from vacant plots

Ludhiana: After issuing a warning to residents not to throw garbage in vacant plots in areas near them, the civic body is now planning to impose service charges for cleaning these vacant plots. Usually, area councillors or other political persons ask civic officials to lift garbage collected in plots, and the civic body bears the expenses. In the meeting of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC), members will take a decision in this regard on Thursday.
It has been proposed that the owner of that vacant plot should pay service charges to the civic body. For cleaning, the 200 square yards of plot, the owner would be asked to pay Rs5,000; for 500 square yards plot, it would be Rs10,000; and above 500 square yards, the amount would be Rs25,000.
Last year, MC had issued a public notice to residents not to throw garbage in vacant plots, and if such a thing happened, then the owners would have to get the plot cleaned within three days. Also, owners had to ensure garbage was not thrown inside the plots again. However, the warning went unnoticed because after that, civic officials did not conduct any checking in the areas. Roughly, there are over 30,000 vacant plots in the city, and officials blamed lack of staff for not conducting checkings at the ground level.
However, it is now proposed that MC should recover charges from the owner, because when they clean the plots, the fuel, machinery, and energy of employees is used. It is to be seen whether F&CC members approve this agenda or not. Mayor Balkar Sandhu said the meeting would take place on Thursday, and the proposal would be discussed with members, after which approval would be given.
On the other hand, residents claimed MC had the right to impose penalty only if they were providing facilities. Haibowal resident Harish Batra said: “There is no facility of door-to-door garbage lifting in the entire city, and private garbage collectors are taking away garbage. But they do not come regularly, so people have to throw garbage inside plots.”
A Maya Nagar resident said: “The owner should not be held responsible for garbage in his plot, as he is not asking people to throw garbage there. It is the responsibility of civic officials to check such people who are throwing garbage wherever they feel like.”
PROPOSED RATES
* Plot within 200sq yards: Rs5,000
* Plot from 200-500 sq yards: Rs10,000
* Plot above 500sq yards: Rs25,000