Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Commissioner pulls up Larsen & Toubro over delay in issuing water bills
Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) Commissioner Rudresh Ghali on Friday directed Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the agency implementing the 24/7 water supply project, to issue water
Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) Commissioner Rudresh Ghali on Friday directed Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the agency implementing the 24/7 water supply project, to issue water bills to consumers immediately after providing connections, saying the delay was resulting in revenue loss to the civic body. The issue came up during the corporation’s monthly general body meeting after Congress councillor Suvarna Kallakuntla said several consumers who had obtained water connections were yet to receive bills despite repeated complaints to L&T officials. When an L&T representative cited procedural requirements, including the need for supporting records, Mr. Ghali said that once a connection had been provided, bills should be issued without delay.
He said the twin cities receive about 260 million litres per day (MLD) of water. After accounting for about 60 MLD of distribution losses, the corporation should be collecting user charges for nearly 200 MLD. However, bills were being raised for only about 130 MLD, forcing the civic body to meet part of the water supply expenditure from its general fund. He said that although an additional 43 MLD of bulk water had been brought into the system to improve supply, revenue from water charges had not increased.
Responding to complaints by councillors that several commercial establishments were being billed under the domestic tariff, he directed officials to identify such cases and revise the billing category. He noted that around 40,000 trade licences had been issued within the corporation limits. Reviewing the progress of the water supply project, the Commissioner said that of the proposed 1,680-km pipeline network, 1,227 km had been laid and work on the remaining stretch of about 450 km was under way. He also directed L&T to undertake immediate temporary restoration of roads dug up for laying pipelines and bulk water supply works until permanent repairs were completed.
Councillors complained of irregular water supply in several wards, damaged roads and delays in providing water connections. They said some localities were receiving water only once in eight to 10 days. Mayor Durgamma Bijawad said she would visit the affected wards along with L&T officials to review the problems and expedite corrective measures.
The BriefWire