Unpaid Waste Collection Fees to be considered as Property Tax Dues: Kerala Govt issues Order

The Kerala Government has recently issued an order, stating that the unpaid dues of waste collection fees will be considered as property tax dues and recovered.

Starting from April 1, the state government of Kerala has made it compulsory for households and establishments to pay a monthly user fee to the local bodies for waste collection, including plastics. The fee applies to everyone, with no exception for the BPL category.

Haritha Karma Sena (HKS), a waste management organization with the support of Kudumbasree, will collect items like plastics, footwear, clothes, and e-waste from households and establishments. If anyone fails to pay the user fee, it will be collected as arrears along with the property tax.

Although the local body has the power to exempt individuals from the user fee, the order did not provide any assurance regarding any form of relaxations for the BPL category. The local bodies have been advised to arrange for the collection of non-biodegradable waste and transfer it to shredding units for recycling.

Minister M B Rajesh has defended the government’s decision to charge the user fee, stating that HKS’s waste disposal services justify the fee.

Following a negative campaign against the imposition of user fees in Thiruvananthapuram city corporation, where only two wards had more than 50% households paying HKS’s user fees, the government implemented strict measures to collect user fees alongside property tax.

Waste disposal has always been a major problem for Kochi, Kerala. In 1998, the Kochi Corporation bought 37 acres of land at Brahmapuram, 17 kms from the city. An agreement was signed in 2005 to build a waste treatment plant there. However, the plant turned into a junkyard and recently caught fire, suffocating the majority of the population in Ernakulam. Hopefully, the waste collected by the Haritha Karma Sena will provide a sustainable relief, unlike the unfortunate incident at Brahmapuram.

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