LAHORE, July 13: The city district government has imposed from this month sanitation fee equal to 30 per cent of sewerage charges on water bills of nearly five million consumers without the district council’s approval.
The local government had been recovering the sanitation fee in accordance with the schedule notified by the ex-Metropolitan Corporation, till June 30. The ex-MCL had fixed the charges according to the plot size for the residential units, and divided the commercial units into shops and industrial units categories for the fee recovery.
A fee of Rs10 a month has been prescribed for residential units built on plots measuring up to five marlas and Rs20 for five to 10 marlas plots. A fee of Rs30 a month has been proposed for plots from 10 marlas to one-kanal and Rs50 a month for plots measuring above one kanal.
Sanitation fee to be recovered from shopkeepers, and workshop and restaurant owners was fixed at a flat rate of Rs50 a month irrespective of the size of business premises. Factory owners will pay Rs100 monthly sanitation fee.
While thousands of shops without any water supply connections would remain exempt from the payment of the sanitation fee under the new arrangement and residential unit owners will have to pay fee three to six times higher than the one prescribed. Many of those living in 10-marla and one-kanal plots will have to pay the fee at the rate previously prescribed for the factories.
Solid Waste Management Director Javed Malik told this reporter that the decision to recover the fee at the rate of 30 per cent of the sewerage charges was taken at a meeting presided over by District Nazim after the district council budget session.
He said the Nazim had decided to link the fee to the sewerage charges because Wasa did not have the plot sizes of all the residential units where the water supply connections were installed. Collection of the plot sizes could delay the implementation of the fee recovery from this month, he added.
Mr Malik said the local government expected to recover Rs115 million sanitation fee through Wasa water supply bills, but it had not got Rs15 million per annum in the past.
Wasa would be paid 10 per cent of the sanitation fee proceeds as service charge and the CDG would easily get around Rs100 million per annum in the form of fee, he said.
The efforts for the recovery of the fee failed because people were not satisfied with the performance of the sanitary staff in their respective areas and wanted regular cleaning of their roads and streets before paying charges.
The town administrations have been made responsible for sanitation in the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, but the CDG tried to shift responsibility of sanitation and recovery of fee to the union councils last year.
The district council also adopted a resolution for shifting responsibility of the sanitation to the union councils, but the decision was not implemented because of the opposition of the sanitary workers.
The Nazim announced only the inclusion of the sanitation fee in the water supply bills to facilitate its recovery during his speech at the budget session on June 26.
He also spoke about the possibility of raising the sanitation fee from the existing Rs10 million, but did not even hint at a substantial increase in the rate of the fee.