E-Paper
New fiscal rolls in with slew of changes in Chandigarh
While residents of Chandigarh will be paying more for various basic services, including water and garbage collection, they will once again be able to get fuel-run two-wheelers registered and have access to liquor vends till midnight
With the new financial year ushering in, a host of changes will also come into effect in Chandigarh from April 1.
While residents will be paying more for various basic services, including water and garbage collection, they will once again be able to get fuel-run two-wheelers registered and have access to liquor vends till midnight.
Travel in public service vehicles will become safer with mandatory installation of tracking devices, garbage collection will begin from commercial and industrial units, and the city will get the eighth flight to Bengaluru.
Water becomes costlier
The UT administration will enforce a flat 5% hike in water tariff for residential consumers, the second in as many years. The city has around 1.52 lakh residential water consumers.
The new rates will vary from ₹3.15 per kilolitre (kl) to ₹21 per kl depending on the consumption. Currently, these range between ₹3 per kl and ₹20 per kl.
The residents falling in the 0-15 kl slab will have to pay ₹3.15 per kl instead of the current ₹3 per kl. For people consuming 16-30 kl, the rates have been increased from ₹6 to ₹6.3 per kl. For the 31 kl to 60 kl category, the tariff will be ₹10.5 per kl instead of ₹10 per kl.
Consumption over 60 kl will now cost ₹21 per kl instead of ₹20 per kl. Last year, the administration has increased the water tariff rates for the first time since 2011.
Sewerage cess lowered
However, in some respite, the municipal corporation (MC) has slashed the sewerage cess on water from 30% to 10%. The sewerage cess depends on a consumer’s water bill. For instance, if a consumer’s monthly water bill is ₹2,500, the sewerage cess charged was ₹750 (30% of the bill), which ultimately took up the bill to ₹3,250. With the latest decision, the consumer will now have to pay only ₹2,750.
Garbage collection charges hiked
As part of an annual increase model, MC will impose a 5% hike on garbage collection charges. For houses less than 2 marla in size, the rate will be increased from ₹50 to ₹52.5 and for houses sized 2 marla to 10 marla from ₹100 to ₹105. Residential properties in the range of 10 marla to 1 kanal will pay ₹210 instead of the earlier ₹200; one kanal to 2 kanal ₹262.5 instead of ₹250 per and those above 2 kanal will shell out ₹367.5 compared to the earlier ₹350.
Power tariff hike expected
The Chandigarh electricity department has requested the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) to approve a hike of 10% in electricity tariff, which if approved will be applicable from April 1. The city has nearly 2.38 lakh power consumers, including 2.04 lakh domestic and 28,521 non-domestic consumers.
Liquor vends to remain open till 12 am
From April 1, city residents will be able to buy liquor from vends until 12 am, but will also have to pay ₹10 more to enjoy their favourite beers. In the Excise Policy 2023-2024, the UT administration has hiked the minimal retail sale price (MSP) of all beer brands by ₹10. The provision to allow bars to remain open till 3 am has been retained. Besides, the cow cess has been reduced from the existing ₹5 to ₹1 per country liquor bottle (750 ml), ₹5 to ₹1 per beer bottle (650 ml) and ₹10 to ₹2 per whisky bottle (750 ml/ 700ml).
Registration of non-electric two-wheelers restarts
After deciding not to register non-electric two-wheelers between February 10 and March 31, 2023, in pursuance of Electric Vehicle Policy 2022, the UT administration will resume their registration from April 1. UT transport director Pradyuman Singh said, “As planned in the Electric Vehicle policy, 6,202 fuel-based two-wheelers can be registered during financial year 2023-24, following which only electric two-wheelers will be registered as done in February and March 2023.”
Govt vehicles older than 15 years to be scrapped
Following the directions of the central government, the UT administration will be phasing out 98 government vehicles older than 15 years. These vehicles will be deregistered and scrapped in the city from April 1. The vehicles include cars and nine Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses.
Plying public vehicles without tracking device to invite fine
The State Transport Authority (STA) will start challaning public service vehicles that are plying without a vehicle location tracking (VLT) device and panic button. As per STA record, there are around 5,500 public service vehicles, including public buses, school buses and cabs, in the city. A GPS-enabled system, VLT allows for real-time tracking of a vehicle’s location, helping make travel in public vehicles a lot safer, especially for women and children. As soon as a passenger presses the panic button, an alert with real-time location of the vehicle will reach the Integrated Command and Control Centre of Chandigarh. The VLT & EA portal also helps passengers track the arrival and departure timings, route taken and speed.
Door-to-door garbage collection from commercial, industrial units
MC will start door-to-door garbage collection from commercial and industrial units in a phased manner. The garbage will be collected from as many as 108 points in the city and will include all types of commercial establishments, including shops, eating joints, spas, salons, etc. The garbage collection charges will vary from ₹150 to ₹5,000 per month, depending on the size of the establishment. The garbage bill for such units will be collected annually with property tax. In residential areas, the charge is collected through water bills. Bus stands, railway station, theatres, malls and clubs, however, will pay ₹5,000 per month instead of ₹4,000.
