Bengaluru: After 'garbage tax', get ready to pay service fee for debris disposal

Bengaluru: After introducing a ‘garbage tax’, Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) is now preparing to impose a service fee for the disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. 

The fee could go be as high as Rs 960 per tonne, going by the rates quoted by a private company that has won all the five contracts related to debris disposal. 

There is no word on whether the BSWML will offer a subsidy to reduce the burden on citizens. 

The service fee is expected to raise concerns as the authorities picked just one agency to collect and transport debris generated across the city. The tendering has also come under the scanner for lack of competition. 

In order to ensure proposal disposal of C&D waste, the BSWML floated eight tenders. Bengaluru-based Chaitra Civil Ventures LLP emerged as the lowest bidder in five of them, while the remaining three contracts are still pending.

Notably, several bidders were disqualified on technical grounds. 

The rates quoted by the bidder will play a key role in determining the service charges to be levied on the waste generator based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle. 

However, the BSWML has not decided how the user fee will be collected. While the original plan involved allowing the private agency to recover the charges directly from waste generators, the BSWML may collect the fee from the public and reimburse the contractors. 

R Rajagopalan, convener of the Bengaluru Coalition, expressed concerns about the plan, warning that high service charges could discourage the public from giving waste to the agency. 

“Unless the service is competitively priced, the public won’t be incentivised to participate,” he said. 

In Mumbai, authorities plan to halve the C&D waste service fee from Rs 400 per tonne to Rs 200 following public complaints. In Bengaluru, the service fee is expected to be Rs 960 per tonne. 

He also questioned whether a single firm could manage the logistics required to handle debris in the entire city. 

“The government talks about decentralising governance, but it is centralising contracts,” Rajagopalan added. “With end-to-end operations handed to one agency, the quantum of waste generated and processed is likely to be inflated. This could lead to billing without tilling.” 

Experts and stakeholders have also pointed out that the collection and transportation components should have been tendered separately because many private players operate in the sector. Unlike transportation, the processing of debris requires different operational capabilities. 

Questions have also been raised about the low utilisation of existing processing facilities at Kannur and Chikkajala and whether more plants are really needed.