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Water Board to crack whip on defaulters
The cash-strapped Hyderabad Water Supply &Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has begun to crack the whip on defaulters and has collected Rs 13 lakh in the month of August.
- Total arrears mount to Rs.1,000 cr
- Around 6,000 defaulters in Rs. 50,000 to Rs.1 lakh bracket
- 2,000 defaulters in Rs.25,000 bracket
- Red notices issued to 7,000 consumers
Hyderabad: The cash-strapped Hyderabad Water Supply &Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has begun to crack the whip on defaulters and has collected Rs 13 lakh in the month of August. “It is a small sum considering that the total arrears mounted to Rs 1,000 cr, but it is a good beginning as we concentrated only in L B Nagar and Kukatpally areas in the month of August,” said P S Satyanarayana, Director (revenue), HMWS&SB.
The Water Board has to get Rs 600 cr from non-government consumers and Rs 400 cr from government institutions.
This month onwards the Water Board is planning to intensify the drive and has formed a task force comprising a team leader (ex-servicemen who worked in the Military Engineering Service ( MES) with field experience are given preference.), a home gaurd, one from the vigilance department and others. There are four teams, each for one circle who would be covering the 16 divisions.
Red notices served
The Water Board has already served 7,000 red notices to defaulters. Satyanarayana said, “In case the defaulters fail to respond to red notice, it would be followed by issue of Form 1 under Revenue Recovery Act for attachment of property.” Five properties have been attached in the last six months. Form 1 notices were served to 400 consumers out of which 200 responded.
Murali Krishna, a resident of Shamshabad said, “The water Board is collecting sewerage cess as well. Why should we pay the Water Board?” Till 2009 the Water Board collected sewerage cess. It was only after December 2011 that policy of billing was revised and the consumers in the areas outside GHMC such as Medak, Sangareddy and Shankarpally were not billed sewerage cess. However, the arrears between 2009 and 2011 are still pending and the Water Board wants to collect the same.
Big defaulters
Armed with the powers to attach properties, the Water Board is all set to target big defaulters. There are 6,000 defaulters in the Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh bracket and about 2,000 defaulters in the Rs 25,000 bracket. There are also a number of big defaulters who owe Rs 1 cr.
Big defaulters have gone to the court and there are about 10 cases pending. Most cases pertain to sewerage cess. Some of the big defaulters include Hyderabad Central University, Reddy Labs, GMR, Aurobindo Pharma and Nacharam Industrial Estate.
So far, 10,000 defaulters have come forward to clear their dues after Water Board threatened to register cases and seize assets.
