Tipping fee of firm lifting garbage in Ludhiana hiked by ₹101

Waste collected from households is dumped at over 40 secondary dumping points in the city. The tipping fee is paid to the company for shifting garbage from secondary dumps to the main dumpsite on Tajpur road of Ludhiana.

Bowing down to pressure from the third party hired to lift garbage from the city, the Ludhiana municipal corporation on Tuesday hiked the tipping fee from ₹324 to ₹425 a tonne.

Ludhiana mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu addressing the finance and contracts committee meeting in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Waste collected from households is dumped at over 40 secondary dumping points in the city. The tipping fee is paid to the company for shifting garbage from secondary dumps to the main dumpsite on Tajpur road.

Citing hike in fuel prices and mounting maintenance expenses, the firm had been threatening to suspend work from June 10 if the tipping fee was not revised. The firm had demanded that the civic body should at least pay ₹435 per tonne.

Already facing flak from the National Green Tribunal for failure to dispose of the legacy waste in the city, the municipal corporation didn’t want more trouble, especially ahead of monsoon.

Mayor Balkar Sandhu had recently conducted a meeting with MC officials to look into the matter. A committee, including senior deputy mayor Sham Sundar Malhotra, leader of opposition in MC house Harbhajan Singh Dang, councillors Jai Prakash, Yashpal Chaudhary and few health branch officials, had found that the MC won’t be able to lift the garbage on its own.

Mayor Sandhu said on Tuesday, “After due deliberations, the committee decided to hike the tipping fee by ₹101. We believe that with the revision of rates, garbage collection in the city will be back on track,” said mayor Sandhu.

On February 4, A2Z company, the firm previously tasked with solid waste management of the city, had terminated its services over pending dues and delay in payments. Following this, the MC had made a stop-gap arrangement and roped in the third party to whom A2Z company had sublet the work of lifting garbage in the city. BJP councillors had earlier targeted mayor Balkar Sandhu for allegedly favouring the contractor.