No water bills issued to 4,109 consumers under Solan MC
Ambika Sharma
Solan, January 24
Even as the state government is facing cash crunch, the Solan Municipal Corporation has failed to issue water bills to 4,109 consumers from 10 wards after they were merged from the nearby rural areas to upgrade the Solan civic body into a municipal corporation in October 2020.
Since the Solan Municipal Council did not meet the key condition of having 50,000 population, the rural areas lying in its periphery were merged to meet the requisite number.
The residents of the merged areas were granted a three-year tax exemption after the merger and this exemption expired in October 2023. There was, however, no exemption on utilities like power and water.
Areas like Deonghat bazar, Power House, Ber Sai, Jarai, Brewary, Parag, Salogra, Kathog, Nandoh, Damrog, Kaleen, New Kather, Samlech, etc., have been merged with the MC after its upgrade.
The Jal Shakti Department (JSD) had transferred these connections to the MC after they were merged with the civic body. The MC staff was thereafter requested to depute staff to distribute water and raise bills. But, no bills have been raised by them till now. Even the Jal Shakti Department (JSD) has not raised any bill after these connections were transferred to the civic body.
“Several letters have been written since 2023 to the MC officials informing them that they should raise water bills in the rural areas which were merged with them in 2021. Earlier, the JSD was providing water to these areas as all rural areas are served by them,” said Sumit Sood, Executive Engineer, JSD, Solan.
“The latest reminder has been shot off to the MC in December 2023 so that appropriate action can be taken and there is no loss to the state exchequer,” he said. Battling shortage of staff like meter readers, the MC staff was not only burdened but was in the process of streamlining tax collection after the upgrade into a corporation.
Commissioner, MC, Solan, Zaffar Iqbal said, “Residents of 10 wards will be issued bills soon and the process to introduce online bills was being worked out to facilitate all consumers.”
He clarified that all these consumers were, however, getting water supply though confusion does prevail at times as the water is supplied by the JSD and distributed by the civic body staff. The bills would be issued in instalments so that the consumers are not overburdened.
MC urged to depute staff to raise bills
- The Jal Shakti Department had transferred these connections to the MC after rural areas lying in Solan’s periphery were merged were merged with the civic body
- The MC staff was thereafter requested to depute staff to distribute water and raise bills. But, no bills have been raised by them till now
