MVA opposes plan to levy garbage collection fee

Mumbai's BMC faces backlash from the MVA over a proposed user fee for waste management, sparking claims of corruption and mismanagement.

MUMBAI: The municipality’s plan to levy a user fee on the collection, transportation, processing and disposal of solid waste is facing strong resistance from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The coalition has attacked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its plan to charge ₹100 for flats up to 500sq ft and ₹500 to ₹1,000 for larger flats per month, for this purpose.

MVA opposes plan to levy garbage collection fee

Civic officials said the proposed fee is in tune with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, issued by the central government. An official from the SWM Department said they had given a presentation to municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on December 16 and a decision is awaited.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said, “We have served Mumbai multiple times through the BMC, and not once did we burden Mumbaikars like this BJP government plans to do through this fee.”

He continued, “Will the BMC pay us every time we spot garbage dumps on the road? It has done a shoddy job of waste collection for the last two years. During this time, I exposed the road scam of the Eknath Shinde regime-controlled BMC, with documents and data. It is only now that the BJP has woken up and is asking for an SIT (Special Investigation Team). This is the same BJP that blindly supported the Shinde regime, when I raised this corruption issue on 15th January 2023, and then consistently after that.

Pointing to alleged corruption in the BMC, Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad claimed that the government has allowed “free loot of the BMC’s treasury to benefit its contractor friends”. “Now, to cover up this gross mismanagement, it plans to impose a user fee on Mumbaikars, for the collection and disposal of solid waste,” said Gaikwad.

“When collection and disposal of waste is an obligatory duty of the BMC under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, why impose this burden on citizens? Aren’t Mumbaikars reeling enough under Modi-made inflation and price rise? The Congress will strongly oppose the imposition of any user fee for garbage collection. The BMC and this contractor-friendly regime should instead focus on timely and efficient collection of solid waste,” she said in a social media post.

Countering the MVA’s claims, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar remarked, “Aditya Thackeray is spreading lies. He is frustrated and desperate. He wants to spread a fake narrative ahead of the BMC elections to win votes. He must provide proof.”