Kullu residents fume over hefty water bills, penalties

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, May 11

The Jal Shakti Department has started the online bill payment facility for consumers of Kullu town. The bills disbursed this month, for water and sewerage, from January till March can be deposited online and also at the counter in the office of Assistant Engineer (AE) near Dhalpur. The online bill payment facility for rural areas and suburbs of Kullu was started in February 2022 and later it was made available to the consumers of Bhuntar and Manali. However, due to technical glitches, online bill facility was started this month for Kullu town after the previous contract expired in December.

Earlier, the bills had to be deposited at the single window counter in the AE office till 1.30 pm. The consumers had to face hassles standing in long queues as sometimes even less than seven working days were provided by the department to pay the bills and hefty late fees was charged after the due date. Even this time for the bills issued on May 7, the last date to deposit was May 15.

Kunal, a resident of the Akhara Bazar area, said, “A hefty late fee of 10 per cent is being levied by the Jal Shakti Department. The government and the water regulatory authority should restructure the anomalous late fee.”

Meanwhile, the residents lamented that their water bills had increased a lot after the meters were installed by the Jal Shakti Department in 2020. The department was charging Rs 18.02 per 1,000 litre of water, including sewerage charges. Deepak, a resident of Dhalpur, said, “My water bill increased over 3 times after the installation of the meter as compared to the previous flat rate.”

Another resident, Dheeraj, said the water supply here was gravity-driven and the government should not charge hefty amounts for providing basic needs to the masses.

Rahul, a resident of Sarwari, said in many urban areas of Himachal Pradesh, flat monthly water charges were being charged, but Kullu residents were being penalised with hefty bills. He said, “The government had waived off water bills in rural areas and overcharging in the urban areas was unjustified. Water charges should be based on the abundance of water in different areas and expenditure on its supply and not to earn profit.”

Another resident of the area, Divya, said, “Profiteering from essential public utility is neither justified nor ethical. High water charges and hefty late fee should be reduced by the government.”

The authorities of the Jal Shakti Department Assistant Engineer stated that the late fee and water rates were decided by the higher authorities and the Himachal Pradesh Water Regulatory Authority.

Urban areas suffer

The government had waived off water bills in rural areas and overcharging in the urban areas was unjustified. Water charges should be based on the abundance of water in different areas and expenditure on its supply and not to earn profit. — Rahul, resident of Sarwari