New Delhi, July 5: The AAP on Monday held a protest outside the East Delhi Municipal Corporation headquarters here over alleged demand by the municipal body of Rs 2,000 per month from doctors for collecting biomedical waste.

Reacting to the allegations, East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal claimed that the Delhi government is creating pressure on corporation officials to levy such charge. He said that no such charge will be levied by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) for collection of biomedical waste. Farmers Protest: AAP Leaders Writes to PM Narendra Modi to Resume Talks Over Farm Laws.

AAP Protests Over East Delhi Municipal Corporation Charging Rs 2,000 per Month From Doctors for Collecting Biomedical Waste

Calling it a "felony tax", AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said his party demands that the BJP withdraw its decision to levy this tax otherwise a big agitation will be started.

“In the time of coronavirus, when doctors are putting everything at stake, the Bharatiya Janata Party's MCD is now charging Rs 2,000 per month from those doctors. This is absolutely wrong and inhuman.

“On one hand, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says that doctors, nurses and all the people working in the hospitals who were engaged in saving the lives of people day and night without caring for their lives during the coronavirus period should be honoured with Bharat Ratna, the BJP, on the other hand, is behaving very dirty with the doctors and asking them to pay Rs 2,000 per month. This is a kind of felony tax,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aggarwal said during a press conference, "The Delhi government had ordered to levy this user charge in its gazette notification published, dated January 15, 2018, under the Solid Waste Management Rules-2016." He even shared copies of the purported gazette with the media.

The mayor said, "We respect doctors and nurses, especially for their services during the COVID-19 pandemic. And, we have been telling the city government in Delhi that we will not enforce this order. We will send it back to the Delhi government."

"However, the AAP is misguiding people to extract benefit ahead of the civic polls next year," he said. He also said that he has written a letter to the chief minister, asking him "not to create pressure on us to collect user charges for collecting biomedical waste".

"Many doctors of the corporation were also martyred while treating people infected by COVID-19. In such a time, we cannot impose any kind of financial burden on the doctors," he added.

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