Lucknow: The Lucknow Municipal Corporation’s (LMC) move to link waste collection fees directly to property house tax IDs has drawn criticism from the residents, who have highlighted the inconsistency in services across the city.The new charges — Rs 50 per month for properties with an annual house tax up to Rs 5,000, and Rs 100 for those above — are now mandatory across the city, irrespective of service coverage.While the LMC has offered a 10% discount on advance online payments, the charge will be added to the property tax ledger if left unpaid. The move has triggered criticism.In colonies like Manas Vihar, Suggamau, Takrohi, Chinhat, Faizullaganj, Pandit Kheda, Sarojininagar, and Kesari Kheda, as well as Mahanagar, Gomtinagar and Rajajipuram, residents raised the issue of irregular garbage collection. They said people already pay Rs 100-200 per month to private waste collectors. Now, they fear they will have to pay to private collectors as well as the LMC.“The garbage collection is not regular in the area. The LMC workers come every two or three days for the collection,” said Ajay Singh, a resident of Dewa Road, Chinhat.Another resident of Sarojininagar, Vijay Kumar, said, “There is no one from LMC collecting the waste from the houses. Now we have come to know that the user charge will be included in the tax. This is not acceptable.”Vishwas Awasthi, a resident from Aashiana, said, “First, LMC has to provide the facility of garbage collection, then include the user charge into the property tax.”Mukesh Singh Chauhan, corporator, said, “The mandatory user charge should only be implemented once the garbage collection system is properly rectified.”Kamran Baig, another corporator said, “In areas where private vendors are collecting garbage, LMC should not take user charges.”LMC officials saidlinking the fee with house tax IDs will improve transparency and help fund better waste management. They admit implementation gaps exist but insist the move is necessary for long-term improvements.
