Citing high charges, Faridabad MC refuses to clear bulk water supply bill

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, March 11

A dispute over the charges of bulk water supply has surfaced between the Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF).

The FMDA, which supplies around 230 million litres of water per day (MLD), has raised a bill of Rs 10 crore for its services in 2021-22. An official of the MCF said the civic body had not cleared the bill due to dispute over the rate. “The FMDA is charging Rs 10 per Kilolitre for bulk supply. The rate is too high. The MCF charges Rs 2.80 (household) and Rs 4.50 (commercial) per kilolitre of water per day (KLD) from consumers. The MCF hasn’t changed the rates since the past 10 years,” he said.

The FMDA provides around 230 MLD of water, which is 69.7 per cent of the total water supply, from its 22 Ranney wells. The MCF supplies water from 1,600 tubewells and 20 water tankers. Around 350 MLD water is supplied daily in the city, which is around 100 MLD less than the demand, an official of the MCF said.

He said the gap between demand and supply would reduce significantly as soon as 12 new Ranney wells would start operations. Presently, the civic body spends around Rs two crore on private tankers to meet the shortage in supply during summer.

The city also faces the problem of illegal extraction and supply of water. To end the menace, the FMDA had started registration of the tankers. But the initiative has got a poor response as only 24 tankers have been registered so far. The city has over 1,000 tankers, an official of the FMDA said.

The Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority (HWRA) had sought a status report regarding the illegal extraction of groundwater and the measures taken to curb the supply of water from unauthorised tubewells in the city last year, an official of the FMDA said.