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Water Board, SCB spar over bill dues
Water Board, SCB Spar Over Bill Dues. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) and Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) are at loggerheads over the water bill arrears of over Rs 30 crore.
- SCB owes Rs 30 cr as arrears to Water Board
- Agreed to pay Rs 5 cr every month, but is paying only Rs 2 cr
- SCB feels Water Board is charging exorbitant rates
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) and Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) are at loggerheads over the water bill arrears of over Rs 30 crore. Earlier in January this year, the SCB agreed to pay Rs 5 crore per month but later went back on its word and has been paying Rs 2 crore per month.
SCB officials insist that the Water Board consider the SCB on par with GHMC consumers and charge Rs 7 per kilo litre. SCB superintendent (Water Wing) Raj Kumar said, “The Water Board has never considered the Cantonment as a municipality. There are numerous slums and 4.8 lakh consumers in the Cantonment. The area is treated as a bulk consumer and the Water Board is charging Rs 13.50 per kilo litre.”
The SCB is saddled with the problem of 20,000 illegal water connections and has recently embarked on a drive to collect dues and regularise connections. A senior official of the SCB said, “HMWS&SB should treat the Cantonment as a municipality as per the 2006 Cantonment Board Act. Half the problem would be solved if it does that.”
SCB officials insist that the water bills were cleared going by the Rs 7 per kilo litre rate. According to officials at the Water Board, it was agreed to waive the interest as per the agreement in January provided the SCB pays Rs 5 crore per month.
“The production cost per kilo litre was Rs 40, but the Water Board has been supplying water at Rs 13.50. The figure was reached based on the rules. Rs 7 is charged for water supplied to BPL families and Rs 10 to others and an extra Rs 3.5 was added as the Cantonment falls outside GHMC limits,” clarified Dr P S Suryanarayana, director, revenue, HMWS&SB.
Srinivas, a resident of Mahendra Hills, said, “The pipelines between Mahendra Hills and Bolarum are ready but due to the dispute between the Water Board and the SCB, the supply of water has not commenced.”
According to SCB officials the pipelines were laid after discussions with the Water Board, but the Water Board insisted the connection charges be paid.
A senior SCB official said, “There are nine major intakes and the requirement at different centres varies. The Water Board supplies additional water to points where the supply is less and vice versa, which is causing huge pumping losses.”
With the Krishna Phase III nearing completion, officials at both ends are hopeful that the parties would reach a truce in the coming months.
