Open House: Should city residents get free water considering its financial sustainability?

Providing safe and clean drinking water should be the goal of the MC. However, if water is being used for residential or commercial purposes, people should pay the due amounts.

Charu Malhotra, Mohali

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Stop falling for vague promises

The voters need to become smart and stop voting on the basis of vague promises made by politicians, such as free water or electricity. On the other hand, the politicians of this country should stop being selfish and work towards serving the nation instead of promising freebies.

Sumesh Kumar Badhwar, Mohali

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Residents need to be smarter

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has offered 20,000 litres of water for free, which is an attempt by the AAP to garner votes. Residents need to be smart and stop voting for politicians based on their promises of freebies.

SK Khosla, Chandigarh

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Mc should Better offer Subsidy

Freebies such as water and electricity are like taking from one pocket and giving in another, as the expense of these freebies would come out of the pocket of honest tax payers in the country. Subsidising the price of necessities is a good idea.

Avinash Goyal, Chandigarh

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Civic body bound to count losses

Most residents of Chandigarh are well off and can pay their bills without issue. The MC should work towards providing free water and electricity to people who are not able to afford necessities. Providing freebies to residents would cause a financial crunch with the MC.

SA Arora, Mohali

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MC can Explore other strategies

Providing free water to city residents is a multifaceted issue requiring a balance between social welfare and financial sustainability. Strategies such as education on water conservation, public-private partnerships and investments in infrastructure and technology may enhance responsible water usage.

Prithvee Yakhmi, Chandigarh

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First chalk out plan to conserve water

The UT Administration needs to first formulate proper strategies to save water before promising free water to residents of the city.

Adish Sood, Amloh

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Focus on providing clean, fresh water

Providing free water to city residents may sound like a morally correct move by the MC; however, it has its downside, such as making people stop valuing anything that comes for free. Instead of providing free water, the MC should focus on providing clean and fresh water.

Antra Rakheja, Chandigarh

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Freebie culture needs to end

Freebies do attract voters, but it is not a sustainable policy as, in the long run, the MC would be saddled with insurmountable debts. After all, it is the taxpayers’ money that is being offered as freebies without any economic development avenue.

Dr Anil Kumar Yadav, Chandigarh

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lay Focus on city’s overall development

Most of the residents of Chandigarh are well-off, and they should not be enticed by promises of freebies by political parties. They should not welcome such financially unsustainable moves and think more about the overall development of the city.

Surinder Paul Wadhwa, Mohali

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Stop playing cheap political games

Providing free water to the residents of the city might sound good, but in practice, it is financially unsustainable and would result in a great loss for the MC in the long run. All the political parties need to start striving for greatness instead of playing cheap political games.

Parisha Khatri, Chandigarh

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Provide regular, timely water supply

Rather than giving freebies, the MC should charge nominal rates for necessities such as water. Instead of promising free water, the MC should work towards providing regular and timely supply of water.

Abhilasha Gupta, Mohali

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Stop freebies in Chandigarh

How does the MC plan to pay for the freebie? By increasing the tax amounts on the residents? No, thank you. Instead of giving free water, the MC should focus on providing regular water supply at nominal cost.

Sanjay Chopra, Mohali

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MC should Focus on maintaining balance

Apparently providing free water must enhance social welfare and ensure impartial access to a vital resource. A balance between affordability and financial liability is essential to ensuring the provision of quality services.

Anita K Tandon, Mundi Kharar

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Put cap on free water supply to residents

Free water should be provided to city residents, but only up to a certain limit.

Vijay Shukla, Chandigarh

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Calculate loss before making promise

The authorities need to calculate the total loss they would incur before making such financially unsustainable promises.

MR Bhateja, Naya Gaon

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Reduce rates, don’t make it free

Instead of providing free water to city residents, the MC could provide water at nominal charges, which would provide some relief to the residents.

Kuldip Singh, Chandigarh

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MC Proposal not unviable altogether

The proposal to provide free water is not a bad idea per se. The only issue should be the volume of free water that may be provided.

Harvinder Singh

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Provide free water only in parks, markets

The MC may provide free water in common places, such as markets or parks, but not in residential areas as it would lead to waste.

Anand Jain, Mohali

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Learn from past failures

We need to learn from the failure of the Punjab Government which promised free electricity, which led the Punjab Electricity Board to chaos.

K C Rana, Chandigarh

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Proposal Will hit other works

Payments for water supply are necessary to curb misuse. Free water will adversely affect development work in the city.

Ashok Kumar Goel, Panchkula

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Develop infra with taxpayers’ money

Money given by tax payers should be used for education, infrastructure development, and healthcare facilities and not for political gains.

Col TBS Bedi, Mohali

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Irrational freebie may get AAP votes

It is an irrational freebie that might get the AAP votes in the election. The amount should be spent on infrastructure.

Brigadier Advitya Madan, chd

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MC should Prioritise fiscal prudence

Prioritising fiscal prudence is vital to charting the course for essential infrastructure upgrades.

Vijay Katyal, Panchkula

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Need for Balancing water supply, price

A balanced approach, combining free essential supply with tiered pricing, can ensure financial sustainability and equitable access.

Sahibpreet Singh, Mohali

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MC should Promote sustainable practices

Encourage community involvement through volunteer-driven water conservation projects, such as neighbourhood clean-up drives and tree planting initiatives, to protect watersheds and improve water quality.

Gurpreet Kaur, Mohali

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Well-off Residents can pay for poor

Consider implementing a "pay-it-forward" programme where residents who can afford to pay for water contribute extra funds to support those in need.

Gurdev Singh, Mohali

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MC should explore funding mechanisms

The MC could explore innovative funding mechanisms such as green bonds or community crowdfunding initiatives to support water infrastructure upgrades and maintenance.

Amanjot Kaur, Mohali

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Implement tiered pricing system

The MC needs to implement a tiered pricing system based on usage of water in residential areas of Chanidgarth to promote conservation while subsidising water for low-income households.

Gaganpreet Singh, Mohali

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Offer subsidy to low-income groups

Instead of providing the residents of Chandigarh water for free, the MC may explore other solutions, such as subsidising water bills for low-income households and implementing water-saving.

Ranjeet Saini

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Freebies nothing but a political gimmick

The free-water resolution just before the election is a political gimmick. The citizens need only the development and maintenance of infrastructure.

Sukhpal Singh

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Freebies set to cause financial loss

“No” is the sane answer to the mayor’s proposal. This scheme would not only cause wastage of water but also cost MC financial loss.

Lalit Bharadwaj, Panchkula

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Free supply leads to wastage

If water is supplied for free, waste is inevitable. I believe even the MC and other government services should pay for water and electricity.

Ajay Vikrant

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MC should Focus on providing livelihood

MC should focus on making people capable of working and generate sufficient working avenues so that people can earn their livelihood.

Wg Cdr Jasbir Singh Minhas (retd)

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list out ways to knock off loss

The Mayor has not described any way to compensate for the losses to the state exchequer due to the supply of free water.

NPS Sohal, Chandigarh

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Educate people on water conservation

Rather than providing free water, the natural resource should be adequately priced. The MC should educate people about the need for water conservation.

Vipan Gupta, Panchkula

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Parties give Freebies to increase vote bank

Free water supply would only lead to increase in wastage of the natural resource. The AAP is proposing freebies to entice people to vote for them in the General Election. We are witnessing a water shortage in Bengaluru, and the MC here is proposing a free water supply.

Manju Malhotra Phool, Chandigarh

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QUESTION for next week

A heritage manhole cover was stolen from Chandigarh recently. What measures should the UT Administration implement to ensure protection of heritage items?

Suggestions in not more than 70 words can be sent to [email protected]

#Mohali