Chandigarh civic body increases garbage collection charges by 5%

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has hiked door-to-door garbage collection charges for all house categories by 5%, in a jolt to residents already unsatisfied with the system introduced last year. People have been telling faults regularly: one is garbage collectors do not lift waste from upper floors in many locations. Another is the irregular collection, instances of twin-bin vehicles not visiting sectors every day are quite common. The chairman of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Association of Chandigarh (Foswac), Baljinder Singh Bittu, an umbrella body of resident welfare associations, has blamed the civic body for looting people. The MC wants to replenish its coffers despite delivering poor facilities. Every day, the MC is looking to make a hole in the pockets of residents, he said. First, hefty charges were imposed, and now, the charges have been increased. This too at a time when the civic body is performing its job poorly owing to numerous factors of irregular collection and timings and collectors refusing to lift garbage at some places. Smooth waste collection is only on paper; in reality, individuals are being harassed, he said. Councillors from different wards too had raised the irregular collection issue during the last general monthly house meeting. People going to offices and the old-aged are most affected as the collectors deny taking garbage from upper floors. If that is not enough, solid waste management is still a key challenge for the MC that is unable to process the total waste at its processing plant. But the flaws have not stopped the MC from effecting the first hike in the charges that have begun reflecting in the water bills of consumers. Image Source