Reported by Indianexpress.com on Jul 17 2012
Water arrears to be paid to PMC go up by 15% - Indian Express

A right to information (RTI) application by Sajag Nagrik Manch has revealed that water arrears to be paid to the PMC went up by around 15 per cent in 2010-11 from 2009-10.

“The arrears to be paid to the civic body in 2009-10 were Rs 374 crore and increased to Rs 421 crore in 2010-11,” said Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch. The RTI has revealed that of the Rs 374 crore, Rs 306 crore are to be recovered from 37,000 commercial and industrial users. The arrears to be recovered from these commercial and industrial water meters has increased to Rs 330 crore in 2010-11.

Opposing the PMC’s decision to introduce water meters in domestic households, Velankar said the civic body has failed to recover water meter dues from the existing 37,000 water meters. “The PMC must concentrate on recovery of these dues rather than fitting new meters,” he said. If these dues are recovered, there will be no need for the cicvic body to increase water tax this year, he added.

Meanwhile, another RTI application by corporator Ashwini Nitin Kadam had revealed that the Italian company SGI that had been appointed for equitable distribution of water, has no experience of implementing such a project in India. “This is the company’s first assignment in India,” the RTI stated.