80 hotels fail to pay bills, water utility seeks action

Shimla, July 20

Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL) has requested the Department of Tourism to take stern action against hotel operators who have not paid water supply charges.

According to the SJPNL, there are around 80 hotels in the town who have not paid water supply bills for the past few months. The hotels have to pay water bills worth Rs 3,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000.

The firm has claimed that the hotel operators continued to not pay the bills despite being issued bills every month.

SJPNL AGM (Water) PP Sharma said the matter was being dealt with seriously. The SJPNL had written to the Department of Tourism in pertinence to the matter, he added.

He said despite being issued notices to deposit pending bills on time, several hoteliers were not complying with the orders.

The SJPNL had provided the hoteliers with an option to deposit their bills in installments if they could not pay the pending amount all at once, he added.

“The hotels can pay their water supply bills in two-three installments, for which they would have to submit an application,” he said.

There are around 35,000 consumers of potable water in the town, of which 25,000 have domestic connections, while 10,000 have commercial connections. Out of these, there are around 300 hotels in the town that receive water supply on commercial rates.