Bhubaneswar: The Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) will monitor the disposal of construction and demolition waste after the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) framed the Construction and Demolition (Waste Management) Rules, 2016.
It has also come as a relief for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has been struggling to charge user fee on citizens for generating municipal solid waste and littering construction waste. The state government had given go-ahead to the BMC to charge user fee in December, 2014.
According to the MoEFCC, individual or institutions generating demolition waste shall have to pay user fee if the waste lie strewn on public roads, leading to traffic obstruction. Firms or institutions generating more than 20 tonne waste in a month will have to submit a waste management plan to the local civic body authority for authorization. The demolition waste includes concrete, soil, steel, wood, sand, plastic and bricks.
The state pollution control board will monitor if the local authorities are enforcing the waste management rules. It will also authorize the civic bodies to hire firms or private parties for segregation of waste. "The new rule will help the BMC to enforce user fee in more effective ways. If the littered waste is segregated, 20% of it will be reused in construction activities taken up by government bodies. The private firm can sell the remaining waste. However, the local authorities will earn revenue by charging user fees from the waste generators as per the prescribed rates," said senior environment scientist, Dilip Kumar Behera.
At present, the BMC is charging user fee on the per square metre area of a house or business establishment. For a structure spread over 80 sq. m. area, the BMC charge Rs 50 a month, it charges Rs 100 for 120 sq. m. area. Beyond 120 sq. m area the BMC levies a fee of Rs 200. However, a person can get waiver for three months by depositing fee for the entire year in advance, BMC sources said.
The new norm has incentives for institutions which dispose waste on their own. "The BMC has been implementing the user fee since the beginning of current fiscal year. Although we started the drive three months before the end of previous financial year, we waived the fee following protest by people. The MoEFCC guideline and monitoring by the pollution board will further help us implement the fee in a better way," said city mayor Anant Narayan Jena.
