This was done one day after the charges were announced, based on the response to the decision from the neighborhood and business associations.
The Chennai corporation announced Thursday that its decision to charge residents a user fee for garbage collection from January 1, 2021, will be reversed. This was done one day after the charges were announced, based on the response to the decision from the neighborhood and business associations.
According to the latest press release from the civic body, a rollback was requested due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The representatives of the neighborhood and business associations sent their requests, after which the Corporation decided not to implement the collection of user fees.
DMK Chairman MK Stalin also criticized the AIADMK government for the decision to impose a user fee on landlords for garbage disposal. He asserted that imposing such a charge is against democracy.
Stalin pointed out that the user fee will be applicable for social, religious and other events in public space based on the number of participants and that this will lead to various problems.
In addition, he pointed out that charges for religious events that take place in public spaces, including highways, and for various organizations that hold protests in public places are not democratic.
Under the Corporation’s original plans, for residential buildings, monthly charges were supposed to range from Rs.10 to Rs.100 depending on the built area of the construction. For wedding halls and community centers, the charges range from Rs 1,000-15,000 per month, while for restaurants and hotels, user charges range from Rs 300 to 5,000 per month. All of this was based on the average garbage generated per month.
Rates started at Rs. 2,000 for movie theaters and ranged from Rs. 300 to Rs. 3,000 for office spaces.
For places of worship and other categories, the charge ranged from Rs 250 to Rs 300.
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