The civic bodies in Andhra Pradesh will no longer collect user charges for garbage collection. This was announced by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu while participating in a programme organised at Machilipatnam to mark the Gandhi Jayanthi on 2 October. The Chief Minister directed the AP officials concerned to stop the collection immediately, and enforce free garbage collection.
The previous YSRCP government had launched Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) in October 2021 and under the initiative, vehicles were pressed into service for collection of garbage from every house. Since then, a fee of Rs 30 from each household in slum areas and Rs 100 from other households was being collected.
Though various organisations and resident associations opposed it, the collection was not stopped. During the general election campaign, the TDP-Jana Sena combine, in its manifesto, had promised to stop collecting the user charges if voted to power. As promised, the Chief Minister announced the stopping of the user charges with immediate effect.
The AP Cabinet, which will meet on 10 October, will formally approve the free garbage collection scheme. The Cabinet is also likely to take a decision on the implementation of a free gas supply scheme from Diwali.
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This article is written by Senior Journalist Lakkoju Nagesh Babu
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