Now, no average water bills

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 21

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has decided to penalise consumers who have been paying water bills on an average basis for months by charging double rates from them.

Sources said the civic body had started issuing bills charging double rates recently.

While MC officials claim that the step had been taken to get all faulty meters changed, consumers term the decision arbitrarily.

The consumers say it is not their fault if their bills are being generated on an average basis. They say instead of charging double rates, the MC authorities should give them sufficient time to change the meters. They should explain the reason behind the average bills.

Sources said under the amended water bylaws, replacement of faulty domestic water meters had become the responsibility of consumers and not the MC. The amended rules also state that in case a consumer fails to replace a defective meter in a time-bound manner, penalty will be charged in the next billing cycle.

An MC official said consumers would have to buy meters from the company approved by the MC and get it tested from the meter-testing laboratory.

He said the decision to impose the penalty had been taken as a large number of consumers had not been paying the bills.

The sources said with the system of the average bills, the MC had been losing revenue for lakhs. The MC had recently intensified its drive to recover the arrears of water bills from the defaulters. The MC hopes that if all faulty meters are replaced, then its revenue will increase.

Manoj Kumar Bansal, Chief Engineer of the MC, said it is the responsibility of the consumers to get the faulty meter changed, but he would look into the issue of imposing the penalty.

Not our fault, say consumers

Consumers say it is not their fault if the bills are being generated on an average basis. They say instead of charging double rates, the MC authorities should give them sufficient time to change the meters. They should explain the reason behind the average bills.