Solan: Solan Municipal Corporation incurs loss of crores due to not increasing garbage fee

Solan: Solan Municipal Corporation is incurring losses of crores every year due to non-revision of garbage collection fee for several years. Though the issue was on the agenda of several general meetings of the Municipal Corporation, including the one held a few days ago, it could not be approved due to lack of unanimity among the councillors. A section of councillors believe that any move to increase the fee will make them face the wrath of residents and cause them to lose in the upcoming by-elections of three wards. There are around 12,000 households in the 17 wards of the Municipal Corporation, from where garbage is collected every other day. 161 employees collect the garbage in 12 vehicles and make three rounds to the garbage processing facility located at Salogra. Dues of more than Rs 50 lakh from residents as garbage disposal fee are yet to be recovered. The Municipal Corporation is now crediting this amount in property tax bills. Solan Municipal Corporation Commissioner Ekta Kapta admitted that “Rs 6 crore is spent annually on garbage collection, transportation and processing, but the charges collected are about Rs 1 crore.”

A family has to pay Rs 50 and commercial establishments Rs 100 per month for door-to-door garbage collection. “However, the charges for commercial establishments have been revised recently,” Kapta said. The Himachal Pradesh High Court has recently taken a tough stand on poor waste management in urban local bodies and issued strict directions to the state government to ensure proper management. The councillors are also being trained at the Shimla-based Himachal Institute of Public Administration, where they are being made aware of the provisions of municipal laws as well as environmental laws for proper implementation. With limited funds available for garbage management, garbage can be seen strewn at many places along the roads. If the municipal corporation has more funds available, it can appoint more staff and make the city clean. About 10-15 tonnes of solid waste is generated in the city every day. The High Court has also directed the formation of dedicated teams under the supervision of councillors to eliminate garbage hotspots and avoid the creation of new hotspots. Apart from penalizing the violators, the court has directed the urban local bodies to appoint adequate manpower and ensure that the unavailability of funds does not become a hindrance in garbage disposal.