Fee for garbage collection illegal: Former deputy mayor of Patna

PATNA: Several ward councillors of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), including former deputy mayor Vinay Kumar Pappu, have opposed garbage collection and holding tax charges being collected from commercial establishments and households.
A proposal in this regard was recently approved by the empowered standing committee members of the civic body.
Vinay, councillor of ward number 28, said holding tax is being collected for the services that the municipal body has been providing, such as sanitation and solid waste management. “Levying additional charges for door-to-door garbage collection from commercial establishments is unlawful,” he said.
He said the civic body and Patna mayor passed a “sarcastic” resolution of fee collection from the commercial establishments even though they remained closed for most of the time last year. “A private company has been given a free hand to collect garbage fee forcibly from all commercial property holders. This is absolutely wrong,” former deputy mayor said.
PMC commissioner Himanshu Sharma said the notification for garbage collection fee was issued by the state government in 2018, but the civic body has implemented it this year. “Across the country, all municipal bodies charge separately for garbage collection. So, we are not doing anything new or unlawful. Instead, we have given rebate to commercial as well as private properties on garbage collection and charging even less than what the government has notified,” he said.
The PMC has included schools, colleges, cinema halls, malls, shopping complexes, petrol pumps, showrooms, restaurants and hotels as commercial properties.