Mapusa civic body hikes garbage tax by 100 pc

MAPUSA

While the State has been reeling under a severe Covid-19 wave and the lockdown-like restrictions has impacted the earnings of the working class, the Mapusa Municipal Council has nearly doubled the garbage tax putting additional burden on the common man.

The civic officials cited a notification issued by the Director of Municipal Administration to introduce the new tax regime, which came into force from April 1, 2021.

Sources in the engineering department informed that the increase in garbage tax was inevitable as total expenditure in solid waste management had shot up.

“As income from user charges were low in comparison to expenditure of the service, it has become necessary to increase the garbage tax. The senior officials approved a proposal, which was in accordance with the notification issued by the Director of Municipal Administration,” the source said.

NOTIFICATION

The DMA in a notification issued last year had increased the garbage tax for households, commercial and industrial units and fixed a new rate depending on the classification of the municipality.

The Mapusa civic body which was charging Rs 400 per annum as garbage tax has now hiked it to a whopping Rs 720 per annum for households, nearly 100 per cent hike.

Correspondingly, the garbage tax for commercial and industrial units has also been hiked.

Interestingly, most of the recently elected councillors, including the chairperson, were not aware of the increase in the garbage tax.

“I am absolutely in the dark on the issue. Nobody has brought it to my attention,” reacted Shubangi Vaigankar, Chairperson of Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC).

REACTIONS

Residents of Mapusa slammed the move to hike the waste tax, especially at a time when people were facing problems due to the ongoing pandemic.

“It is not correct to increase the garbage tax because the much promised sewage treatment plant for Mapusa is not in place. Secondly, MMC has enough source of income. It is not right to tax the people during the pandemic. They should have waited for the new council to take an appropriate decision in the matter,” said Jawaharlal Shetye, a resident of Mapusa.

Normally, the elected body discusses matters of public utility and accordingly passes a resolution on the matter.

“The DMA normally sends an advisory and based on those inputs, the council has to take the matter up in the council meeting and take a decision. The DMA on his own cannot take a decision on behalf of the council. He can give direction on behalf of the government to the council. The final decision rests with the council,” said Sandeep Falari, former chairperson of Mapusa.