The Times of India 04.03.2013
South Goa hoteliers ready to pay 'affordable' waste collection fees
MARGAO: The South Goa hotel and restaurant owners' association (SGHROA) has written to the chief officer of the Margao municipal council (MMC) that its members are willing to pay hotel garbage collection fees provided they are "affordable."
Reiterating that they are opposed to the hike in garbage collection charges as proposed to be imposed by the MMC last year, the SGHROA has placed before the MMC its own fee structure for consideration of the civic body.
Last year, the MMC had classified the hotels and restaurants into three broad categories depending upon the size of the establishments, and proposed to charge 80 from Category A, 60 from category B and 20 from category C units. Earlier, when the MMC had undertaken a similar exercise in 2007, the rates were 25, 15 and 10 for categories A, B and C in that order.
As per the latest proposal of the SGHROA, the garbage collection fees should not be more than 30, 20 and 10, a marginal increase from the 2007 rates. There are nearly 400 hotels and restaurants across Margao and Fatorda.
The president of SGHROA, C P Jaggi, has questioned the MMC for targeting only the hotels and restaurants for taxing them with the garbage collection fees.
"Garbage is generated by gaddas, sugar cane juice sellers, bhelpuri and pavbhaji vendors, street vendors who liberally use plastic disposable cups/plates, roadside fruit/vegetable/fish vendors and finally dealers of electrical appliances who throw waste like thermocol and other packaging material right into the rainwater drains," Jaggi said in the letter.
The hotel waste collection exercise that was initiated since March 2011 has been exerting a financial burden on the already cash-strapped civic body. The initial idea was to begin the hotel waste collection on a trial basis and then impose garbage collection fees on the hotels once the pitfalls were identified and the exercise streamlined. However, with the hoteliers from the city failing to accept its fee structure for the hotel waste collection, the MMC has been conducting the exercise without generating any revenue for the municipality.
Reiterating that they are opposed to the hike in garbage collection charges as proposed to be imposed by the MMC last year, the SGHROA has placed before the MMC its own fee structure for consideration of the civic body.
Last year, the MMC had classified the hotels and restaurants into three broad categories depending upon the size of the establishments, and proposed to charge 80 from Category A, 60 from category B and 20 from category C units. Earlier, when the MMC had undertaken a similar exercise in 2007, the rates were 25, 15 and 10 for categories A, B and C in that order.
As per the latest proposal of the SGHROA, the garbage collection fees should not be more than 30, 20 and 10, a marginal increase from the 2007 rates. There are nearly 400 hotels and restaurants across Margao and Fatorda.
The president of SGHROA, C P Jaggi, has questioned the MMC for targeting only the hotels and restaurants for taxing them with the garbage collection fees.
"Garbage is generated by gaddas, sugar cane juice sellers, bhelpuri and pavbhaji vendors, street vendors who liberally use plastic disposable cups/plates, roadside fruit/vegetable/fish vendors and finally dealers of electrical appliances who throw waste like thermocol and other packaging material right into the rainwater drains," Jaggi said in the letter.
The hotel waste collection exercise that was initiated since March 2011 has been exerting a financial burden on the already cash-strapped civic body. The initial idea was to begin the hotel waste collection on a trial basis and then impose garbage collection fees on the hotels once the pitfalls were identified and the exercise streamlined. However, with the hoteliers from the city failing to accept its fee structure for the hotel waste collection, the MMC has been conducting the exercise without generating any revenue for the municipality.
