Garbage Cess and Water Bill Should be Reduced – Congress
Mangaluru: “People are living in fear of the Corona pandemic, and because of the lockdown, many people have lost their jobs. But the BJP government has taken this as an opportunity to loot the people by hiking the garbage cess and the water charges. The garbage cess has been hiked 230%. The garbage cess and the water bill should be reduced, failing to do so we will stage a protest”, said the opposition leader Abdul Rauf during a press meet held at the Congress Bhavan, Mallikatte here on June 16.
Addressing the mediapersons, Abdul Rauf said, “In 2013-14, the government had ordered to implement the garbage cess, and the project was launched. We had signed the agreement with Antony waste management for disposing the waste within the city corporation. When we started to charge Rs 30 per month, people protested saying that Rs 30 is more and we had to stop charging. In 2015-16, we started to charge Rs 15 for 500 sq ft and Rs 30 for 1000 sq ft houses (Rs 180 per year). But now it has increased to Rs 600 per year. Due to lockdown, people come to the MCC with grievances but instead of waiving the charges, the BJP is looting the people during the pandemic. If the ruling party does not take proper measures to reduce the garbage cess, we will fight against it”.
Abdul Rauf further said, “Hiking the garbage cess 230% is not the solution. The government should not put the burden on the public. The garbage cess should be stopped, and those who have already paid, the amount should be adjusted in the next year’s payment. The garbage cess and water bill should be waived for three months of the lockdown”.
When asked about the hike in the water bill and why Congress has maintained silence? Corporator Lancy Pinto said, “Earlier we used to hold the water Adalat. During the Adalat, we used to receive thousands of applications and solve all the problems. Let the MCC continue the water Adalat. Now because of the Coronavirus, the Water Adalat has been stopped, but all other programmes are going on. Since water is essential for everyone, MCC should reduce the water charges. The Mayor has already assured of reducing the water bill. I request the MCC to hold the water Adalat to solve the problems faced by the people.”
Former Mayors Sashidhar Hegde and Bhaskar K, Corporators Vinay Raj, Praveen Chandra, Naveen D’Souza, Anil Kumar, Ashraf Samshuddin and Zeenat were also present.