AHMAD NABI
KHYBER
Tehsil Municipal Authority(TMA)Landi Kotal first ever introduced conservancy charges for delivery of batter and interrupted cleanness service in the main bazaar, however the local traders rejected it.
Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO) Landi Kotal Mr Samad said on Thursday that to run cleanness activities continuously and to provide a healthy environment to shopkeepers and visitors, implementation of conservancy fee was necessary.
He said the fee was put into practice under the local government Act 2013 and it had been already imposed across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
TMA is a semi-government department and without local fund generation, it could not continue its services to the locals, he added and said since 2019 it had been extending services by installing dustbins and TMA staff on a daily base executes the cleanliness duties by collecting garbage and shifting it to the dumping ground.
He went on that TMA would charge daily ten rupees or three hundred rupees per shop and a little bit extra from hotels and other large business centers and in return it would clean the bazaar two times daily, supply potable water, would keep functional street lights and would provide healthy environment for the local businessmen and visitors.
He urged the shopkeepers to let impose the conservancy fee that was in the best interest of the bazaar and if someone put hurdles in front of it, he would be dealt with as per law.
When President of Anjuman-e-Tajeran, Landi Kotal bazaar, Haji Jafar was contacted on the matter he rejected the new fee and said the TMA should deliver first and then they would be ready to pay the conservancy charges.
He maintained that the bazaar was the most neglected one therefore instead of putting financial burden on the shopkeepers; the government established development schemes to enhance trade opportunities in the bazaar.
He warned that if the fee was forcibly imposed then they would move to roads in protest against it.
Assistant Commissioner, Landi Kotal Irhsad Mohmand said it was a legal fee and was essential to pay for better delivery of services, offered by the TMA.
He said that moots were underway to persuade the local traders to consent to the conservancy charges.
