Civic body asks people to get their water, sewer connections regularised or face action

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) has taken a tough stand to recover outstanding dues and regularise unauthorised water and sewerage connections. MC Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh held an emergency meeting with officials concerned and employees of the Water and Sewerage Department, emphasising the need for immediate action.

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As per the department’s records, there are approximately 2 lakh water and sewerage connections in the city and an outstanding amount of around Rs 29 crore is to be recovered. The recovery target for the financial year 2025-26 is Rs 16 crore, out of which only Rs 2 crore has been collected so far.

Surinder Singh directed the Junior Engineers to issue notices to defaulters in their respective areas and take immediate action to disconnect their illegal water and sewerage connections. To ensure effective recovery and inspection, additional staff, including 15 tubewell drivers and five sanitary supervisors, have been deployed to work alongside recovery staff.

The MC is also organising camps to facilitate regularisation of unauthorised connections. A camp was scheduled today (July 2) in the Imperial City area of the Western Zone where residents were to be urged to regularise their connections, said the MC Additional Commissioner. He said failure to do so will result in disconnection of water and sewerage connections.

He further said around 1 lakh connections exist in outer colonies under JICA, South East Project, and AMRUT Project, but these have not been regularised through the municipal corporation. This has caused a significant financial loss to the civic body. Camps are being organised for public convenience and action will be taken against those who do not avail of this facility.

The Additional Commissioner said every Junior Engineer will be provided with a notice book to issue immediate notices to people for unauthorised connections. If defaulters fail to clear their pending dues, their connections will be disconnected, he said.