Water bills to swell from next month

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

Your water bill is all set to increase from next month as the UT Administration has finalised the draft notification for enhancing the sewerage charges on the recommendation of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The MC, at its meeting held in June, had decided to levy sewerage charges at the rate of 30 per cent of the total water bill, discarding the current system of levying sewerage charges at Rs 10 per WC seat, and had sent it to the Local Bodies Department of the Administration for approval.

Sources said the Local Bodies Department had sent the draft notification to the Legal Department, which would be issued soon seeking objections from residents within 15 days. After that, the final notification will be issued for implementation.

The decision to increase the sewerage charges has been taken to overcome the financial crisis being faced by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The civic body hopes to collect a revenue of Rs 20 crore from the sewerage cess. The cess will be charged on the basis of the water tariff for residential as well as institutional buildings in the city.

With the implementation of the new system, those using more water will have to pay more every month as sewerage charges. At present, the MC has around 1.58 lakh water connections in the city in various categories — residential, industrial, commercial, semi-commercial, institutional, government and semi-government.

Connection charges to go up

The charges for releasing a sewer connection will also be increased. Residents will have to pay Rs 1,000 for flats having a covered area of up to 500 sq ft. Those having a covered area between 500 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft will be charged Rs 2,000, while those having a covered area of above 1,000 sq ft will be charged Rs 4,000. In marla houses, Rs 2,000 will be charged for houses up to 10 marla, Rs 4,000 if the plot size is between 10 marla and 1 kanal and Rs 6,000 if the plot size is above 1 kanal. Hotels and institutions will be charged Rs 20,000 each.

Pay Rs 300 if your water bill is Rs 1,000  

If a resident gets a water bill of Rs 1,000 for a month, he will have to pay Rs 300 extra as sewerage charges. At present, a resident pays a nominal Rs 10 per WC seat. The sewerage charges will go up with an increase in the consumption of water. 

Sewerage charges to be 30% of total water bill

The MC, at its meeting held in June, had decided to levy sewerage charges at the rate of 30 per cent of the total water bill, discarding the current system of levying sewerage charges at Rs 10 per WC seat, and had sent it to the Local Bodies Department of the Administration for approval.