Greater Chennai Corporation’s user fees are effective as of January 1, 2021.
DMK Chairman MK Stalin on Wednesday criticized the AIADMK government of Tamil Nadu over Greater Chennai Corporation’s decision to impose a user fee on landlords for garbage disposal effective January 1, 2021.
In a statement, Stalin, who is the opposition leader in the Assembly, said that the user fee will be an additional financial burden for families who have already been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that after awarding the garbage cleanup contract to a private company, the government now announces that residents will have to pay for garbage cleanup.
Stalin noted that the user fee will also apply to organizers of social, religious and other events in public space based on the number of participants (5,000 rupees for participants under 500, 10,000 rupees for between 501-1,000 and 20,000 rupees for participants over 1,000), which will result in a lot of trouble.
The DMK leader said that religious events are held in public spaces, including roads, while various organizations also hold protests in public places and the imposition of a charge is against democracy.
Noting that Chief Minister K Palaniswami does not have time to hold the Greater Chennai Corporation elections to elect the mayor and councilors, Stalin wondered how an IAS official can issue an order to impose a charge on residents without no discussion and deliberation in the elected body.
The commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation in a statement on Tuesday said that the user fee for a residential building with a constructed area of up to 500 square feet will be 10 rupees per month, for 501-1,200 square feet, 25 rupees per month, 1201 square feet – 2400 square feet 50 rupees per month and over 2,401 square feet 100 rupees per month.
For commercial establishments, places of worship and schools, the monthly garbage cleaning charge will be Rs 500.
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