Srinagar: The diagnostic and testing labs in Srinagar have alleged that the Sanitation Fee, being charged by various municipal corporations, was too high, putting an undue pressure on the small scale businesses, struggling to survive amidst an economic plunge.
In 2019, the Sanitation Tariffs in Kashmir’s various municipal corporations were revised, the new rate list charging a Sanitation fee 10 times higher than the existing.
A delegation of Diagnostic Laboratories in Kashmir told Greater Kashmir that prior to September 2019, they were paying Rs 1800 as annual Sanitation fee.
However, the fresh rate list that was issued on September 18, 2019 the Sanitation Fee was fixed at Rs 2,000 per month, making the annual Sanitation Fee that a Lab has to pay as Rs 24,000 per year.
The rate has been fixed irrespective of the size of the laboratory. “The Sanitation Fee has been hiked 13 times, and at a time when our businesses have been already suffering due to the lockdowns,” a member of the delegation said.
The burden on the Labs, the delegation members said, was especially unfair to the small laboratories. With a limited ambit of testing and small revenue, these labs, a member said, were being forced to down their shutters. “Our monthly earnings are a few thousand rupees and with no aid from any quarter to end our miseries, there seems to be no other alternative than to close the labs,” he said.
The Kashmir Private Diagnostic Centers Association (KPDCA) alleged that the Sanitation Fee being levied on Labs was not just as most of the waste that the labs generated was being collected by the Biomedical Waste handlers.
“Our major waste is biomedical waste, not garbage, for which we have tie ups with various firms,” Rouf Rangrez, President KPDCA said. He said the labs were paying Rs 7000 for Biomedical Waste Collection and a monthly fee of Rs 800, a total of Rs 16,500 annually.
“In addition to Rs 24,000 to Municipalities, we pay Rs 16,500 for biomedical waste. The labs are being pushed to the brink,” he said. He said the charges were hiked across Kashmir in the past two years.
Rangrez said in other states and UTs of India, the Sanitation fee was a few thousand rupees annually for the labs. “Look at Punjab, Goa, Himachal Pradesh. In these states, the sanitation fee is just over Rs 1000. Why should the labs be paying such hefty amounts in Kashmir,” he asked.
SMC Commissioner, Athar Amir Khan said that the sanitation fees had not been increased (recently).
“SMC is charging rates as notified in 2019. The rates are very reasonable,” he said. He said the rates were much less as compared to most of the other cities. “In case of hospitals and labs etc they have to manage bio-medical waste separately as per rules,” he said. He said the Corporation was charging the sanitation fee for Municipal solid waste and must be paid timely.