The ruling BJP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has announced to roll back levying of user charges on garbage collection and bring an amnesty scheme to settle old house tax dues.
As per the scheme, the property owners can get a waiver of penalties and previous dues by paying property tax of last five years. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and Delhi Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh announced the decision on Tuesday.
“The previous AAP dispensation in the MCD imposed the user charge without any discussion. Officials have been instructed that no user charge should be imposed on people. We will bring a private resolution on this in the MCD House meeting on Wednesday,” Singh said.
The Mayor also said the BJP will bring an amnesty scheme under which previous dues of house taxes will be settled on depositing the pending dues of five years. No penalty or late payment surcharge will be imposed and people will be provided no objection certificates by the MCD, showing settlement of house tax dues. Stating that the BJP discussed the issue with the prominent residents’ welfare associations (RWAs), Sachdeva said the AAP imposed the user charge “arbitrarily.” On Monday, AAP councillors held a sit-in outside the Delhi mayor’s office, protesting the omission of a proposal to roll back the user charges from the House agenda.
The BJP won the post of mayor and deputy mayor in the MCD elections on April 25, and promised to roll back user charges on garbage collection.
On April 7, the MCD, then ruled by AAP, said that according to the Solid Waste Management (SWM) bylaws, a “user fee” must be collected for garbage collection, transportation and disposal services. “The user fee, as outlined in the SWM norms, is being implemented based on categories specified in the bylaws, and its enforcement is being monitored by the Supreme Court,” the MCD had said.
Sachdeva said the BJP has requested the mayor to suspend the collection of user charge and to take any further decision on it only after consultations with the residents and traders’ bodies in Delhi.
The BJP leaders received various suggestions and objections from the RWA representatives during a meeting held at the party office recently, he said.
The AAP regime in the MCD imposed the user charge “hurriedly” without any consultation under the garb of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, Sachdeva said.
However, proper procedures and formation of sanitation committees mandated under the rules were never followed, he claimed.
Moreover, the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, has no provision for any such “user charge” and therefore, a legal framework will be required even if it has to be implemented, Sachdeva said.
