DESPITE OPPOSITION from political parties, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has said that it will go ahead with levying user charges on households across the city under the Solid Waste Management Rules of the Central government. “No, we are not withdrawing the levying of user charges for waste collection, disposal and processing. It is part of the standing guidelines of the Central government," said Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh, when asked whether his administration intends to withdraw the user charges following opposition from political parties. Singh said, “PCMC is not the first civic body to impose the user charges on households. It is being implemented across the state. And it does not in any way cover the expenditure that we incur on collection, disposal and processing of the waste." From April 1, the PCMC has started levying user charges of Rs 60 per month under Solid Waste Management Rules, 2019 on five lakh households located across the length and breadth of the industrial city. Similarly, commercial spaces like shops, hotels and hospitals will have to pay user charges from Rs 90 to Rs 200 per month. The imposition of charges - which will begin from this fiscal - will amount to an annual amount of Rs 720 per home. However, political parties including the BJP which ruled PCMC for five years until February 2022 and NCP, the opposition party, have demanded that the user charges should be scrapped. "The decision to levy user charges on households in Pimpri-Chinchwad is an injustice to the residents. And therefore, the PCMC administration should immediately withdraw the move," said BJP Pimpri-Chinchwad president Mahesh Landge. NCP Pimpri-Chinchwad president Ajit Gavahane said,"If the user charges plan is not withdrawn, NCP will hold demonstrations outside the PCMC headquarters and launch an agitation against it." Activist Lahoo Landge said,'PCMC is collecting all sorts of taxes from residents. And now this one will only add to residents' burden. It should reduce other taxes and then levy this new charge so that residents do not have to shell out more taxes." Assistant Municipal Commissioner Nilesh Deshmukh said the Solid Waste Management Rules came into effect from 2019. "However, we will be collecting the user charges on garbage collection and disposal from this fiscal. The amount of user charges which have accumulated for last four years will be collected in next two-three years," he said. Deshmukh said the user charges are being levied as per the state government directives. "The PCMC has not made the rules. The directions have come from the state government to those levying the user charges. The charges were not levied for last four years. We will not start collecting the charges," he said. Deshmukh said there are in 5.97 lakh properties in Pimpri-Chinchwad. "Of these, there are 5 lakh households. Each household, flat owner or bungalow owner will have to pay Rs 60 per dwelling unit per month as user charge for collection and disposal of waste. These charges will be included in the property tax bill which is given to the resident twice a year," he said. As for the chawl residents, he said, “If the chawl owner is paying the property tax, the amount will be included in his bill." The PCMC said it is incurring an expenditure of over Rs 125 crore on waste collection and disposal.
