Staff reporter
Margao
Director of Panchayats Siddhi Halarnkar said that individual units within gated complexes should not be charged user fees for door-to-door garbage collection. Instead, the entire complex should be treated as a bulk waste generator under the Goa Model Panchayat Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2022.
In a memorandum to the Salcete Block Development Officer (BDO), Halarnkar stated that village panchayats must apply bulk waste generator norms to gated complexes.
As per the rules, bulk generators include entities that produce over 25 kg of wet waste per day or 1,000 kg of garden or horticulture waste per month.
The list of bulk generators includes housing societies, hotels, markets, educational institutions, hospitals, malls, government buildings, and similar establishments. These entities are required to pay a monthly fee—ranging from Rs 500 for Class A panchayats to Rs 150 for Class D panchayats—and must manage their own waste disposal.
Bulk generators must segregate and store solid waste within their premises and can install waste processing systems such as bio-methanation, vermi-composting, or microbial composting after obtaining panchayat permission.
The Directorate of
Panchayats had earlier stopped providing financial assistance for waste handling and encouraged panchayats to implement a user-fee model.
