Vijayawada: Minister Dharmana Krishna Das remarks on garbage condemned

Vijayawada: Sharply reacting to the remarks of Minister Dharmana Krishna Das on the garbage tax, the Andhra Pradesh Urban Citizens Federation described the outbursts as an irresponsible statement on the part of the Minister regarding garbage tax collection.

It may be recalled that Minister Dharmana justified the collection of garbage tax from the public and said, "Is tax is not paid, garbage would be dumped before the houses of the citizens".

APUCF State convener Ch Babu Rao said that it was the constitutional responsibility of the local bodies and the government to clear the garbage while maintaining sanitation and public health. He said it was irresponsible on the part of the Minister that the garbage would be dumped before the houses of the people at a time when Covid-19 is spreading once again.

It was unprecedented in the country that the State and Central governments were passing the responsibility of garbage collection to the people. He assailed the State government for accepting the terms of the Centre to levy garbage tax on people.

Stating that the Ministers were threatening people instead of rethinking on the issue, Babu Rao recalled that people were resenting the government for levying garbage tax. He deplored that the staff of ward secretariats were threatening people that welfare programmes would be stopped, if they don't pay garbage tax. He demanded Minister Dharmana to withdraw his remarks and to apologise to the people.