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HMWS&SB sets Sept 30 deadline
The Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has set September 30 as the deadline to set up meters for all the consumers, failing which they would have to pay double the meter charge as penalty.
​Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has set September 30 as the deadline to set up meters for all the consumers, failing which they would have to pay double the meter charge as penalty.
The Water Board sent out SMSs to about three lakh consumers in this regard on Sunday. Interestingly, the SMS mentions the deadline as “within 10 days”. But the officials on Monday clarified that the last date was September 30, 2016.
Highlights:
- Says meters are available with empanelled agencies at all Water Board offices in the city
- The cost of the meter is between `900 and `1,500
- After the deadline, defaulters would have to pay double the amount as penalty
In a bid to augment revenues and streamline the process of water supply distribution and accountability, the HMWS&SB is planning to bring all those consumers who do not have water meters, into its ambit.
Presently, there are 8.79 lakh domestic consumers with the Water Board, of which only 1.61 lakh have working meters. The remaining consumers either have meters fixed but are defunct or do not have meters at all.
Water Board director (Revenue) D Sridhar Babu said, “There are close to 1.9 lakh consumers who do not have meters. We want to bring all these consumers into our network.”
The Water Board supplies 355 mgd of water every month, of which 20 per cent is not billed or comes under Non Revenue Water (NRW).
Babu said that the consumers would be given two months’ time to set up meters and there were empanelled agencies at all Water Board offices in the city from where they could buy the meters. The cost of the meter is between Rs 900 and Rs 1,500. The last date for affixing meters was September 30, 2016.
The Water Board was also planning to get all the temples, churches, mosques and other religious places which do not have water meters, to get a Consumer Account Number (CAN). Senior officials say that these connections which come under charity category, which have ½-inch connection, need not pay water bill charge but they need to be authorised by the Endowments Department.
Residents of Malkajgiri where there are 35,000 connections after receiving the SMS went full hog on social media claiming that the Water Board had no right to levy double tax.
United Federation of Residents’ Welfare Association (U-FERWAS) General Secretary BT Srinivasan said, “As per the ongoing World Bank-aided Comprehensive Drinking Water Project a meter would be fixed free of cost by the HMWS&SB for all the consumers of Malkajgiri as per the tender norms. Why should the residents again go for a meter for such a short period?”
As per the World Bank project, new pipes are being laid and the old ones would become defunct. Presently, water is supplied through the old pipes and consumers are billed Rs 245 per month in the absence of meters.
Slums are exempted from setting up meters in the first phase but Water Board officials say that they would have to fix meters in the second phase. The Board plans to regularise 5 lakh water connections in the next two months.
