The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Plaike (BBMP) council meeting on Friday got off to a stormy start with councillors, mainly from the Opposition, demanding that service charge for door-to-door collection of waste not be levied on citizens any time soon.
Abdul Wajid, Leader of Opposition, BBMP, argued that it would be wrong on the part of the civic body to impose service charge on garbage collection, amounting to around ₹200 a month for each household, at this time.
“We should not act like a private service provider by imposing such service charges during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has become difficult for citizens to even pay electricity and water bills,” he said, adding that it was BBMP’s obligation to provide incentives to citizens.
In response, the Mayor said that a discussion on the issue will be held in the council meeting and that charges will not be imposed immediately.
Councillors also claimed that the COVID-19 funds at the ward level had not been released.
Another topic that came up for discussion was the action of a joint commissioner who granted property tax rebate to many commercial establishments in the jurisdiction last year. “Such officials are just sent back to their home department with no action,” BJP councillor Padmanabha Reddy said, adding that the report submitted on the matter is incomplete.
The council urged that a fresh and a detailed report on the issue be submitted to which the commissioner replied that it would be done in 15 days and the amount, along with the fine, would be recovered.
‘Teachers won’t lose jobs’
Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar assured the council that teachers working on contract basis in BBMP schools will not lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, former mayor N. Shanthakumari alleged that the contractors of Indira Canteen had failed to serve good quality food of late, and urged that the new tender be in place soon.
