STELCO threatens legal action against 'exorbitant' fee for road tilling
Earlier, it was MVR 31,000. What needs to be spent is now MVR 80,501, according to Shareef..
By
Aishath Fareeha Abdulla
STELCO said on Wednesday that it will move the court to cancel the policy issued by the City Council to charge a fee for the tilling of the city's road.
The civic body has formulated a regulation for ground work in public areas in effect from last month.
As per the policy,:
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If tilling roadside, charged – MVR 25 per foot per day
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To lift the manhole cover and bury the cable – MVR 300 for each cable junction
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To remove and relay road pavement stones – MVR 100 per square feet per day
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, STELCO Managing Director Ahmed Shareef said that the public company had to bear a lot of hardships due to the change in the rates charged by the civic body for road work. Earlier, it was MVR 31,000. What needs to be spent is now MVR 80,501, he said.
Shareef said that in addition to the tilling fee, the civic body has also increased the fee charged for boards installed on the road. In this context, Shareef said:
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154% increase in the amount paid for services earlier
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The fee for a roadside board revised from MVR 60 to MVR 200
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The road block board fee revised from MVR 150 to MVR 300
Shareef said that the city council has sometimes caused inconvenience to the general public due to the way it has done things and the council is acting in a manner that makes it uncomfortable with the services provided by the government to the people.
"Charging fees for road tilling is putting a financial burden on the people and once the policy is formulated and implemented, a reasonable amount of time has to be given before it is implemented," Shareef said. He said the civic body had not held talks with any of the companies providing road related services.
"They have not responded to a letter [from STELCO] on January 19 stating that we want talks," Shareef said.
The policy was framed under Section 152 of the Decentralization Act, Shareef said, without consulting the LGA as well.
"We believe that this is a null and void regulation. We will approach the court to cancel it," he said.
When asked about the prices in the city council's policy, its spokesperson Mariyam Shiuna said, "These are not high prices and we have started charging fees which were not charged while digging the road earlier because the council's budget has to be used to repair the damage caused by the road work."
