Ongole Municipal Council blinks, defers user charges, waste tax for 3 months

Ongole: The Ongole Municipal Council has postponed the implementation of the user taxes and waste tax for three months amid protests from Telugu Desam and Janasena corporators in the Council meeting held on Wednesday.

The Ongole Municipal Council held the mandatory meeting on Wednesday. Mayor Gangada Sujatha announced that the council has approved the proposals for the Annual Development Plan for 2020-21 with estimation of Rs 11,26,16,910 as tied grants and another Rs 11,26,16,910 as untied grants to take up various development works like CC canals, development of parks, IEC activities, capacity building, drinking water, solid waste management etc.

As the Mayor already approved the Annual Development Plan for emergency submission to the government, the council ratified the same. The Mayor said that the Council also approved to provide three bins to each household for wet, dry and dangerous waste segregation with the funds from donors. The Council ratified the emergency approvals by the Mayor and approved the other proposals on the agenda.

During the discussion to ratify the collection of various user charges from the public, the Council decided to postpone the implementation of the charges for three months, informed Mayor Gangada Sujatha.

The YSRCP corporators found fault with the Mayor for approving the important issue without discussing it in the Council but supported the user charges. The Telugu Desam and Janasena corporators demanded the Council to scrap the proposal and cancel the user charges. They submitted a representation to the Mayor and Municipal Commissioner and walked out of the meeting after expressing protest at the podium.

As per the proposal on the user charges, apart from the business establishments and various organisations, the households in the slums should pay Rs 50 per month as user charge for waste collection while the households in non-slums should pay Rs 100 per month. Also, the corporation will impose a fine from Rs 250 to 2500 for littering, waste disposal or sewage water on streets, Rs 250 for spitting, Rs 300 for public bathing, Rs 500 for urinating, Rs 500 for open defecating, Rs 500 for feeding birds and animals on the streets, Rs 300 for washing clothes and utensils on roads.

The corporation will also impose owners a fine of Rs 1,000 for the littering and defecation by pet animals. The household owners are also liable for a fine of Rs 200 for delivering waste in non-segregated and not stored in separate bins.