Our correspondent
Nourpur, February 16
After the state government’s recent decision to provide free monthly power supply to households consuming up to 60 units per month and drastically reduce tariffs for some other categories, the request to remove the annual increase of 10 % of domestic consumer water bills in the next annual budget session is gaining momentum. Since 2005, the department of Jal Shakti has increased the tariffs for piped water by 10% each year.
The then Virbhadra Singh government issued this notification in 2005. Therefore, an urban domestic consumer, who paid Rs 40 for a water connection per month in 2005, will have to pay Rs 201 from April. In rural areas, the domestic consumer who paid Rs 10 will have to pay Rs 51 from the next financial year. Resentment is brewing among water users, especially the poor. The water bill with improved tariff has become a scourge for the poor who are unable to pay heavy bills as Jal Shakti’s department used to issue the bills after an interval of six to eight months.
Urban and rural water consumers have called on Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to revoke the 2005 notification of rising water charges every year and reduce the annual water tariff in the next annual budget session so that people could get some respite from this rate hike which had become a regular annual feature in the state. They demanded to reschedule the water bill with fixed monthly charges between Rs 50 to 100 for urban areas and Rs 20 to 30 for rural areas.
Residents Anu Raina, Rajni Devi, Pradeep, Joginder Mehra, Surinder Mahajan, Raj Kumar Sharma and Sanjay Kumar pleaded that the water tariff hike is contrary to the spirit of the Modi government’s Jal Jeevan mission to ensure access to running water for every household in the country. through individual household tap connections by 2024. They also required a quarterly billing cycle, taking into account the ability of poor residents to pay.
Promod Mahajan, chairman of Nurpur Sudhar Sabha, and PD Sahotra, general secretary of the city’s welfare committee, demanded fortnightly water bills with the online payment system.
#Himachal #jai ram thakur #water tariff
