Civic body plans to waive surcharge on water, sewerage bills

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 19

To recover pending water and sewerage bills, the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, is planning to waive surcharge.

The civic body has come up with a proposal in this regard. It is expected to be tabled at the upcoming General House meeting scheduled to be held on Friday.

According to the proposal, the O&M branch of the MC has to recover Rs1.35 crore in the sewerage and water bills till March 31, 2018, in the city. For the recovery, the civic body is making its efforts. But, it is also facing the wrath of the public. They are protesting the surcharge imposed on the water and sewerage bills.

The proposal says that if the surcharge is waived, the MC can recover the maximum amount of the pending bills from the consumers.

A review meeting to discuss the issue was held on December 6 in which officials of the Water Supply and Sanitation Department took part. The Chief Secretary of the Local Bodies Department presided over the meeting. The officials discussed ways to expedite the recovery process of the pending bills.

The Chief Secretary also advised the officials to waive the surcharge to give relief to the residents. They were asked to pass a resolution in the House so that taking benefit of the move, residents can pay their outstanding bills at the earliest.

Last year as well, the Local Bodies Department had come up with a one-time settlement policy for the sewerage and water bill defaulters and to regularise the illegal connections in the state to fill its coffers.

Under the policy, a rebate was given to those who had not paid their sewerage and water bill for a long time. A separate provision was kept for the illegal sewerage and water connections to get these regularised by paying some amount.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said, “It is a good proposal and will give relief to those who have not paid their bills. Now, it is expected that if the proposal is passed in the House, they will not have to pay the surcharge. People should avail the opportunity and pay their outstanding bills.”

Proposal for hiring contractor to catch stray cattle discussed

MC officials held a meeting on the stray cattle menace here on Wednesday. At the meeting, they discussed a proposal to hire a contractor for shifting stray cattle to cattle pounds.

At the meeting, the officials expressed concerned over the stray cattle menace, which posing a threat to public property and human lives. They said the menace was also tarnishing the image of the MC.

The officials were of the view that stray cattle should be sent to cattle pounds. They said earlier in the past as well, they hired a private contractor for the purpose. He used to charge Rs450 for catching per cattle. Thereafter, he used to send them to cattle pounds.

They dwelt on the proposal and decided to table it at the upcoming General House meeting to be held on Friday.

Besides, a discussion was held on constructing a shopping complex-cum-parking lot on fire brigade land. The MC officials also discussed the issue of JITF Company and Triveni Company.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath, Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal, Deputy Mayor Gurinderpal Kaur Mangat, F&CC members Nirmal Singh Sandhu and Harmander Singh were present on the occasion. MC Commissioner Rishipal Singh also attended the meeting.