Inquiry on Collection of Garbage Tax Collection to Benefit Contractors: Narayana

Vijayawada: Urban Development minister P. Narayana has announced an investigation into the malpractices in the collection of garbage tax in AP during the term of the YSRC government.

Speaking in the state assembly on Thursday, he criticised the previous government for imposing unnecessary hardships on people. “During the TD's rule, there were no tax increases in municipalities,” he said.

The minister was moving the AP Municipal Laws (second amendment) Bill, 2024, which was later passed unanimously.

“The YSRC government had forcibly collected garbage taxes despite public opposition. It made amendments to the municipal laws to collect monthly charges from residences ranging from `30 to `120, and for commercial entities between `100 and `10,000 from November 2021,” the minister said.

He added, “From November 2021 to July 2024, about `325 crore was billed, of which only `249 crore was collected, indicating that the people objected to these taxes. Some residential properties, with a nominal property tax of `50, were being charged as high as `356 towards garbage service.”

Narayana announced that a thorough investigation would be conducted into garbage tax collections and the debts thus incurred.

He said 85 lakh tonnes of garbage had accumulated during the YSRC period. Some contractors allegedly dumped garbage in mining pits instead of resorting to proper waste management.

Highlighting the plans made between 2014 and 2019 to establish Waste-to-Energy plants across ten districts, the minister noted that while plants in Visakhapatnam and Guntur were functioning successfully, the remaining eight planned sites were cancelled.

He said, “If such plants had been set up appropriately, significant accumulation of waste could have been avoided.”