New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) In a major relief for Delhi residents, the government will waive water bill late payment surcharges running into over Rs 11,000 crore for domestic consumption and by government establishments starting next month, Water Minister Parvesh Verma announced on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, Verma said the proposal to waive the amount was approved in the Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) meeting, headed by him, among other matters discussed.
“We have seen the increasing amounts of financial constraints of DJB in the past few years. People also used to get bills in lakhs, this was mainly because of the LPSC on the principal amount. Among the several issues discussed in the board meeting, we have given approval to this amount to be waived completely for two categories,” Verma said.
According to Verma, of the Rs 16,068 crore due in water bills under the domestic category, Rs 11,069 crore comprises the late payment surcharge, while the rest is the principal amount, which the customers will have to pay. The scheme will start from some day in the next month and continue up to the end of the current financial year.
“However, 100 per cent waiver will be offered only till January; after that, a customer who has a pending bill will only get a 70 per cent waiver on LPSC,” the minister added.
Another major decision taken in the meeting was to reduce the interest rate levied on pending bills.
“We are reducing the rate of interest to 2 per cent per billing cycle from the earlier amount of 5 per cent per bill, which will provide a major relief to people of Delhi. This will continue beyond the deadline of the LPSC scheme,” Verma said further.
To spread the word, DJB will be setting up camps across all the residential colonies and clusters of the city and customers can get their bills settled at the camp in addition to the existing online mode.
The DJB has also decided to reduce the fee and penalty for converting illegal water connections to legal connections from the current Rs 26,000 to Rs 1,000 in the domestic category, and in the non-domestic category, charges have been brought down to Rs 5000 from Rs 61,000.
“These illegal connections are in lakhs and mainly from areas in unauthorised colonies, now that amount has been reduced to provide them relief,” Verma added.
The DJB has also decided to provide relief to commercial category customers but the rate has not been decided yet, the minister said.
The mounting dues have contributed to a severe financial crisis at the city’s water utility. Water minister Verma had earlier raised the matter of the financial crisis faced by the board due to pending payments, which include government, commercial and domestic category consumers.
Eighteen government departments, both central and state, owe the DJB around Rs 63,019 crore in unpaid water bills.
The government is also increasing the strength of license holders, who are authorised to set up new water connections for individuals.
“Looking at the pending applications for new connections, we have decided to increase the number of license holders to 1000 who will set up new water connections across the city to clear the pendency,” Verma added.
The total outstanding amount of pending water bills (including all categories — domestic, government, and commercial) that DJB has to collect is Rs 87,589 crore. Of this, the principal amount is Rs 7,125 crore and the LPSC charge is Rs 80,463 crore, which is 91 per cent of the total bill, said the minister. PTI SSM SSM SKY SKY
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