Nashik: Beginning next financial year, residents will have to pay sewage utility charges imposed by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) for upkeep of its 11 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the city.The charges have been introduced for the first time by the civic body. The sewage utility charges have been fixed at Rs 3 per 1,000 litres for water consumers in the city.The civic body aims to mop up Rs 40 crore annually from the sewage utility charges to recover the cost of operation & maintenanceof the STPs.The NMC officials said that the sewage utility charges will be levied on water tax bills sent to consumers after every six months.The NMC has 11 STPs which are engaged in treating sewage water. The operation & maintenance cost of these STPs are around Rs 40 crore. As per the central governments instructions, the civic bodies will receive incentives from the Centre if they levy sewage utility charges on consumers to recover the cost of treating sewage water. NMC commissioner Ashok Karanjkar told TOI that approval has been given to the proposal to levy sewage utility charges. But the utility charges will be levied from April 1 next year.Standing committee okays hike in water tax from April 1 The standing committee of the NMC on Friday approved the proposal of the water supply department to hike water taxes from April 1 next year. The hike in water tax for residential consumers will be from the present Rs 5 per 1,000 litres to Rs 11 per 1,000 litres. For non-residential consumers, it will be from Rs 27 per 1,000 litres to Rs 34 per 1,000 litres.The hike in water tax will enable the civic body to garner Rs 130 crore annually from Rs 64 crore it collects at present. Hence, the NMC will be able to manage all the expenses on water supply through tax collection.We also published the following articles recentlyNo increase in water charges this year: BMCThe BMC, following directions from chief minister Eknath Shinde, will not increase water charges this year. Last year, the BMC administration increased water charges by 7.12%. Water charges are levied based on various expenditure incurred, such as establishment costs, administrative expenses, and electricity charges. In 2021, there was a 5.29% increase in water charges.Mapusa civic body to charge Rs 5k per trip to collect industrial wasteThe Mapusa municipal council (MMC) has decided to charge Rs 5,000 per trip instead of Rs 5,000 per month from all industrial units under Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) within MMCs jurisdiction after small industrial units requested a concession on the monthly garbage collection charges. Some smaller industrial units were not ready to pay the charges as they claimed that the garbage generated by them is far lesser compared to bigger industrial units. The council resolved to charge Rs 5,000 per trip irrespective of the quantity of garbage and requested industrial units to provide one garbage collection truck and at least three staff as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

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