Corporation to levy user charge for proper implementation of solid waste management

MADURAI: The civic body has decided to levy user charge for all buildings in its limits for proper implementation of solid waste management in the city and has also decided on the fines to be collected with regard to the same.

A special meeting of the Madurai Corporation was convened by the special officer and corporation commissioner Sandeep Nanduri on Saturday, in which all officials participated. During the meeting, it was stated that solid waste management rules 2016 of the central government are applicable to all local bodies, and every local body is responsible for any infrastructure development for collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of the waste.

It was also decided to bring all establishments in the corporation including individual houses, commercial complexes, hotels, eateries, hospitals, wholesale trading establishments and retail trading units under the Madurai Corporation's solid waste management move.

As per Madurai Corporation rules of 1971, action will be initiated and a fine imposed on anyone disposing their waste in public places leading to environmental pollution and the local bodies can charge a user fee for proper waste disposal, from collection to disposal. The user fee for different establishments was approved at the meeting, and public have been asked to raise objections if any, within one week of issue of this notice.

The user fee for individual houses, where the property tax for six months is within Rs 500 is Rs 10 and if the property tax is above Rs 2001 is Rs 50. Private nursery and elementary schools will have to pay Rs 500 a month, while private schools above nursery level will have to pay Rs 1,000 a month. Hospitals will have to pay Rs 1,000 a month for disposable of non-biomedical waste, tea stalls Rs 100, sweet stalls - Rs 500, mobile restaurants - Rs 600, bigger restaurants Rs 1,500 and those that generate more than three tonnes per day Rs 6,000 to Rs 30,000.

Marriage halls will have to pay Rs 1,000 for every event conducted, meat and fish stalls Rs 500, cinema theatres Rs 1,500 and venues where exhibitions and circuses are conducted Rs 250 per day. Textile and tannery wastes would be charged Rs 1,500 per load of waste, while the user charge for clearing a load of construction debris would be Rs 750. The meeting also resolved to allow a private organization Milan Marbles, to clear the overgrowth of bushes in Sathaiyaru tank in Uthangudi village with their own funds for a period of three years.