Give free power for water supply: TPA

Vijayawada: The Tax Payers Association (TPA) has demanded the state government to provide electricity free of cost for supplying drinking water and sewage treatment of plants.

It criticized the State government for collecting commercial charges on power from the Corporation. In this regard, the TPA organized a meeting here on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, the TPA secretary, M V Anjaneyulu said that 73 percent of the budget that was allocated to the VMC was spent on providing electricity to supply drinking water and treating sewage water.

He said that an amount of Rs 34.15 crore was allocated for the maintenance of VMC water supply and about Rs 25 crore was spent on electricity alone for which the VMC was increasing seven per cent taxes yearly to compensate.

TPA president V Sambi Reddy recalled that there was protests from denizens many times for a rollback of water taxes, but the VMC authorities ignored their appeal.

He said that if the government gives free electricity for the water supply, it will benefit about 10 lakh people of Vijayawada on water taxation by VMC. He said that the VMC was paying Rs 4.5 crore annually for sewage treatment plants.

The TPA demanded that the government supply free electricity to VMC which will benefit VMC by Rs 29.5 crore annually.