Chandigarh MC House slashes hefty water tariff hike

Overall hike capped at 50%, down from 300% okayed in December; MC chief registers dissent

The Chandigarh municipal corporation’s General House on Tuesday rolled back the exorbitant water tariff hike it had approved two months ago, capping the overall increase in the existing rates to 50%.

However, the proceedings were marked by a heating exchange between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors and municipal commissioner KK Yadav, who opposed the move.

Now, the ball is in the UT administration’s court. It has to take a call on the revised tariff when the earlier proposal of threefold hike that got the House nod in December was about to be notified.

Meanwhile, leader of opposition Devinder Babla of the Congress said the U-turn of BJP councillors — who enjoy two-thirds majority in the House — was a result of their “frustration” in wake of the party’s defeat in Delhi assembly elections.

Heated exchange

Initially, mayor Raj Bala Malik was not in favour of tabling the agenda, but she agreed after BJP local president and councillor Arun Sood held a closed-door meeting during lunch time.

During the discussion, as KK Yadav said the agenda passed in December had already received the nod of UT administrator VP Singh Badnore, BJP councillor Gurpreet Dhillion reasoned the rollback was necessitated after Sood got a negative feedback from the public.

As Yadav questioned whether Sood’s decision was above Badnore’s, it led to a heated exchange, and the local BJP chief accused the MC commissioner of trying to create a rift between the UT administrator and him.

Denying the allegation, Yadav said a wrong perception was being created that officers have no concern for the public, and cautioned: “I can’t do much if the MC has no funds for development works.”

Yadav said the House had revised the tariff in December in order to bridge nearly ₹100 crore revenue losses in water supply and improve the infrastructure.

“At a time when the UT administration is about to issue the final notification, any fresh intervention was not required,” he said, while also questioning the tabling of the agenda at the last minute “with no justification or logic behind the proposed rates”.

However, the agenda got the House nod.

Meanwhile, Sood said he is confident that the UT administration would clear the new agenda, “since it was the voice of the public”. He said he along with all party councillors will meet Badnore in a day or two and personally request him to clear the proposal.