KARACHI, March 19: Some union councils of the city are inventing novel methods of squeezing the already over-taxed people under the pretext of new taxes.
The taxes which are already in force and being charged from the citizens include property tax, water and conservancy charges, fire tax, motor vehicle tax, surcharge, additional surcharge, fuel adjustment charges, general sales tax on electricity bills and sales tax on telephone bills.
Yet another tax or levy which some union councils have decided to charge from April is called “garbage collection” fees, though people are already paying conservancy tax, which is charged under the head of sweeping of Mohalla roads and streets and provision of street-lights.
Conservancy charges bills, which also include fire tax, are issued to the consumers by the city government’s water and sanitation (W&S) department along with water charges. Water charges bills’ amounts are credited to the account of the W&S department, and the conservancy tax amount, which comes to about half of a water charges bill of a house or a flat, is credited to the account of the city district government.
Under the new “garbage collection” charges, which Union Council No 7, comprising PECHS and adjoining cooperative housing societies, the owner and tenant of every house will be required to pay Rs150 a month in advance to the UC for the disposal of their garbage. For a flat this charge is to be Rs100 a month. It means that each house in the localities falling under the jurisdiction of UC-7 will have to pay a total of Rs1,800 a year. For a flat this amount will be Rs1,200 a year.
According to the plan, which the UC has announced will be introduced from April 1, occupants of houses/flats will be required to fill garbage in bags to be provided by the UC and keep them outside their houses or apartment buildings between 9am and 10am daily. Such bags will be lifted by the UC’s refuse collection vans from 9am to 3pm.
Residents of the union council do not appear to be happy with the proposed tax. They say since they are already paying conservancy charges, the proposed levy under the head of “garbage collection” fee amounts to “double taxation.”
“We are already paying conservancy charges which amounts to half of water charges bill of a house, and now we are being asked to pay another Rs1,800 a year to the UC under the head of ‘garbage collection’ fee,” an elderly person living in PECHS Block 2 remarked, saying: “We get our home garbage disposed of at the locality’s garbage container through sweepers. For this service we are paying Rs50 a month only to the area sweeper.”
“It is illogical on the part of the UC to charge another fee under the head of garbage collection tax,” another resident said, suggesting that the UC nazim first ensured quick disposal of garbage from the locality’s garbage containers.
“One can see heaps of garbage littered on roadsides and in and around garbage containers as refuse collection vans often fail to dispose of garbage from roadsides and dust-bins regularly,” another resident complained, saying uncleared garbage was not only posing serious health hazards to the residents but was also an ugly sight to the passersby.
Another resident suggested that if the UC officials were interested in ensuring cleanliness in the localities under their jurisdiction they first make arrangements for removing garbage, dirty material and debris from the back alleys of PECHS Block 2 in Tariq Road and other adjoining areas. The uncleared filth in back alleys had created an unclean environment. Those who had created such unhygienic conditions should be fined heavily, he said.
The UC’s plan for removal of garbage is, however, not mandatory upon residents. Those who are not willing to participate in it have been asked to make their own arrangements for disposal of their home garbage at their locality’s garbage container, failing which they will have to pay fine.
When a Nazim of Jutland Lines’ Union Council, Mehfooz-un-Nabi, was asked whether an UC could levy a fee under the head of “garbage collection” charges, he said there was no justification for charging such a fee because people were already paying conservancy charges.
Quoting the Sindh Local Government Ordinance-2001 whereby the new local government system came into being about 18 months ago, he said under the SLGO a UC could, however, charge some fee under the head of maintenance of public places and professional tax.
