Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 22
Facing its worst financial crisis, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has come up with a proposal to double the water tariff. Sources said the agenda regarding the increase in the water tariff would be placed before the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) at its meeting scheduled for June 26.
It is after a gap of over 10 years that a water tariff hike proposal is being placed before a committee. Officials had earlier also tried to push the proposal, but it never came up for discussion at any meeting.
The development is important as the proposal will come up at the next general house meeting of the MC if it is approved by the F&CC.
The sources said the revision in the water tariff was being proposed for all categories of consumers — domestic, institutional, commercial and industrial. It has also been proposed to enhance the unmetered water tariff.
The sources said the MC had made two plans for the hike in the rates. Under one plan, a 7 per cent hike had been proposed since 2009, while under the other plan, a 10 per cent hike in the tariff had been proposed since 2009. The MC has been incurring a loss in the operation and maintenance of the water supply.
It is expected that the revision in the water rate will fetch an additional revenue of Rs 125 crore to Rs 165 crore for the MC annually. The MC had suffered a loss of Rs 61 crore last year.
The MC has also proposed to delink sewerage charges from the number of seats and will fix these according to the consumption pattern of consumers.
Devinder Singh Babla, Congress councillor and Leader of the Opposition in the MC, said the party would oppose the water tariff hike proposal as it anti-people.
24X7 water supply still a far cry in city
The proposed 24X7 water supply in the city is still a far cry. The work to link the Bhakra main line with the new Phase V and VI pipelines is yet to be completed. It is likely to take two to three months to complete the project.
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