Guntur Municipal Corporation to levy garbage collection tax on pilot basis

Guntur: Guntur Municipal Corporation will collect tax for door-to-door garbage collection in Guntur city. For this purpose, the GMC is implementing garbage tax in 7th and 32nd divisions on pilot basis from this month.

According to the official sources, the GMC will collect Rs 60 per month from the households in slum areas,Rs120 per month in other areas Band from Rs200 to Rs15,000 per month from the commercial establishments and industries.

The garbage tax will account for Rs1,440 per year on each household in urban areas. Depending upon the size of business establishments and industry, garbage tax will be collected. In some residential areas, garbage tax is more than property tax per annum.

The GMC will implement the garbage tax in all divisions in Guntur city very soon. The government is collecting Rs 60 per month in the municipalities, Rs 90 per month in the special grade municipalities Rs120 per month in the remaining areas in municipal corporations. Some gram panchayats already collecting Rs 60 garbage tax per month. The state government is implementing reforms in local bodies proposed by the BJP government at the Centre.

In order to get funds from the Centre and achieve Clean Andhra Pradesh, the State government has to implement the reforms, officials said. The local bodies will spend the garbage collection tax for collecting the garbage and maintenance of garbage collection vehicles. The GMC need not spend funds to keep city clean from its own funds in the days to come, they said