Over 7K water bill defaulters owe Rs 8 crore to Sonepat Municipal Corporation

Mukesh Tandon

Sonepat, May 1

The Sonepat Municipal Corporation (MC) has decided to take serious note of water bill defaulters and illegal water supply connections in the city. Bills amounting to over Rs 8 crore are pending towards the defaulters.

As per sources, around 53,500 consumers have valid water supply connections from the Public Health Engineering wing of the MC. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of consumers, who have not paid their water bills for many years, the sources added.

Connection to be cut if dues not paid

To recover the dues of Rs 8 crore, the MC will issue notices to 7,457 defaulters in June and if they will not deposit the dues, their connections will be snapped. Senior MC official

Illegal connections a nuisance

These illegal connection holders have made a pilferage in the main water supply pipe lines, due to which water doesn’t reach the tail end. Nijesh Kumar, Executive Engineer, MC

Scarcity of potable water has hit residents of almost all localities in the city, but people living in the western area of the city are said to be facing more severe problems than others. Besides, illegal connections have also become a nuisance in the city.

Amidst facing problems in meeting potable water supply, the MC has also begun to cut illegal connections.

Sources said hundreds of people had taken water supply connections illegally by making pilferage in the main water supply pipe lines.

Now, the MC has launched a special drive to identify such illegal connections and prepared a list of 7,457 defaulters, who owe bills of over Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, the sources said.

The MC will serve notices to these defaulters in June.

As per the list, maximum defaulters are from Lal Darwaja area (400), 299 from Sudama Nagar, Gyan Nagar (340), Saini Pura (60), 40 each in Deha Basti and Raj Mohalla, Tara Nagar (85), in Nandwani Nagar (120), Mashad Mohalla (118), Gur Mandi (150), Dev Nagar (133), Rajender Nagar (220), New Jiwan Nagar (175), Baba Colony (140), Arya Nagar (90), Prabhu Nagar (150), Lakshmi Nagar (67), Janta Colony (91), Mishan Road (54), Garhi Ghasita (331) and scores in other colonies.

A special drive has also been launched to identify illegal connections in the city as these were responsible for improper water supply, said Nijesh Kumar, Executive Engineer, MC.

“On the first day of the drive, five illegal connections were identified on Kakroi Road and were snapped. Besides, to resolve the problem of water supply in the western area, one MLD water is being purchased from the HSVP daily. We have also proposed to instal two tubewells in the area on priority,” Kumar maintained.