Aafrin Kidwai 
The Headquarters of Chennai Municipal Corporation, Ripon Building
Building owners within the Greater Chennai Corporation will have to pay user charges to the civic body for garbage removal from January 1 as per Solid Waste Management Rules, 2019. The move to collect user charges was to start from April 1 but was postponed due to COVID-19 lockdown.
As per the new rules, the civic body would collect user charges based on the size and usage of buildings. They range from Rs 10 per month for residential building with built area up to 500 sqft to Rs 100 for residential buildings with a built-up area above 2,401 sqft.
In the case of commercial establishments and schools, places of worship, the charge for collecting waste would be Rs 500 per month. For the events to be held in open public spaces, except funerals and government awareness activities, the civic body would collect Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per event based on the number of persons participating.
Even though user charges would be calculated on a monthly basis, the building owners would have to pay the charges only once in six months along with property tax.
According to a rough estimation by officials, the civic body would earn Rs 60 crore to Rs 70 crore per year by collecting user charges.
Picture Credit: CC BY-SA 2.5
