BMP bid to rope in Bescom

BMP bid to rope in Bescom
deccan Herald

To make its own and the citizens’ life simpler, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has thought up a “novel” method for collecting the solid waste management cess from City denizens with the aid of Bescom.

To make its own and the citizens’ life simpler, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has thought up a “novel” method for collecting the solid waste management cess from City denizens with the aid of Bescom. The cess is proposed to be collected along with the electricity bill one pays every month.

But not so fast, feel some. While the BMP seems hopeful about the alliance coming through this week, Bescom is yet to make a decision, as it “still needs to consult its board members, and get the KERC and government approval”.

This mechanism will serve the dual purpose -- of resource mobilisation to make Greater Bangalore a reality, and of cost recovery that the BMP has been grappling with -- by having a streamlined collection mechanism. But nothing comprehensive has been planned with regard to establishing landfills for disposal of solid waste around the City.

According to BMP Commissioner Jairaj, only about Rs 1 lakh is being collected every year from the 25 lakh-odd structures that come under the cess purview. With a tie-up with Bescom, BMP would be able to recover the entire outgo on its collection.

“We are sure to collect Rs 180 crore annually if the process is streamlined. In any event, the BMP can effortlessly recover close to Rs 100 crore for sure,” he adds. This amount will be used to set up landfills, educate BMP staff and the masses about segregating waste, and payment of incentives to the disposal staff, says Vasanth Rao, BMP Commercial Tax DC.

Sticker method

The BMP spends close to Rs 98 crore a year for SWM purposes. “A lot more work has to be done in terms of identifying areas for landfills, while finding lands by itself may not be a problem,” says Mr Rao without elaborating.

The BMP will come out with stickers to specify the categories of structures; Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Other.

These will be made available extensively at all Bangalore Ones, KEB and the like. The concept of self-assessment tax works very well and is going to be applied here.

People can come to these centres, specify the category of their property and affix it to their meters. “Bescom’d be paid handsomely to be a part of this mechanism,” adds Mr Rao.

Every house has a light meter, while not all of them has a water meter. As Bescom has streamlined its bill collection system, BMP ’ll find little trouble covering all City properties.

Mr B R Nanjundappa, former opposition leader in the BMP council, feels otherwise.

“We’ve 14,000 employees, half of them belonging to health and revenue departments. They can easily go about collecting the cess. Bescom is unlikely to agree to this as it’d be an additional burden to them,” says he.

Further, “BMP still needs to collect crores of rupees in form of library, property, general licence, slum cess and such levies. The City generates close to 3,000 tonnes of waste a day, while only 350 tonnes gets disposed of in the landfill at Mavallipura. The rest is being scattered in and around the area,” he adds.