Mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal on Thursday distanced himself from the decision to impose user charges for door-to-door garbage collection and claimed the step was taken after the instruction of the state urban development department.

Interacting with the media at his office on Thursday, Agarwal said: “We have always opposed the imposition of user charges considering the fact that Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) is the only urban local body in the country under whose jurisdiction 60 per cent of the area falls in the mining zone. People here have to face the brunt of pollution generated by the mines and work under difficult condition.”

Agarwal said he had also opposed the decision to impose user charges during the DMC board meeting on March 7. He added that the DMC had last year recommended the proposal to fund the user charges through the District Mineral Development Trust (DMFT) fund and the then deputy commissioner A. Dodde had cleared the plan.

“We therefore request the state government to make a provision for financing the user charges through the DMFT fund,” the mayor said.

He said door-to-door collection of garbage was currently being conducted in 60 per cent area of Dhanbad spread over 55 wards falling under the five circles of Jharia, Dhanbad, Sindri, Katras and Chhatatand. “The present cost of garbage collection is around Rs 80 lakh per month. When the entire Dhanbad area is covered by it, the cost of processing the garbage will rise to around Rs 3 crore per month,” Agarwal added.

The DMC has started realising user charges from March 15 despite protests by a majority of 55 councillors and members of Bank Mor Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Separate rates have been fixed for houses, shops, marketing complexes, malls, restaurants, hotels, cinema halls and multiplexes.