At least 61% of Delhiites benefit from the state government’s free water scheme but are not paying any sewerage charges, which goes against the principle of “polluter pays”, according to a report by a National Green Tribunal (NGT) -appointed committee.
The scheme was introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in 2015 in which families using 20,000 litres water will not be charged for it. A part of this water bill would go to paying for sewerage which too isn’t charged for such families.
Indirectly putting the onus on the scheme, the committee has urged the green court to make every family in the national capital pay a flat rate as sewer charges, irrespective of whether how much water they use.
“Consumption of water below 20,000 liters per month was made free in 2015. Sewage bill used to constitute at least 60% of the water bill. When water was made free, this sewage bill got subsumed into the water subsidy. The result has been that a large proportion of households pay zero charges for generating sewage, its collection and treatment,” the report reads.
After subsidy on electricity bills, the free water scheme was the AAP’s biggest poll promise for the 2015 assembly elections. The AAP government had implemented the scheme within 48 hours after coming to power.
{{/usCountry}}After subsidy on electricity bills, the free water scheme was the AAP’s biggest poll promise for the 2015 assembly elections. The AAP government had implemented the scheme within 48 hours after coming to power.
{{/usCountry}}This is happening in not just unauthorized colonies but even in the case of high-end organized colonies and Group Housing Societies.
“Among these some 40% - 50% of the households in colonies like Greater Kailash and Lajpat Nagar and 50-60% in colonies like Rohini, Dwarka, RK Puram have been paying zero bills for water and in effect zero fees for sewage collection and treatment despite causing daily pollution. This works against the polluter pays principle,” says the report submitted to the NGT on July 2.
Similarly in out of the 1797 unauthorized colonies, water connections have been provided only in 1374 colonies and sewer network provided only in 384 colonies so far. Thus 990 colonies, which have been provided with water connections but no sewer connections, pay no sewage charges even if consumption is in excess of 20,000 litres.
In response to the committee recommendations about not taking sewage treatment fee from Delhi residents, Dinesh Mohaniya, vice chairman of DJB, who is also the AAP MLA from Sangam Vihar, said, “ This is a policy matter. We are treating 490 MGD of sewage at present, which is much more than 360 MGD being treated in 2015. This means the amount of treated sewage being released into the drains has only improved. Also, we are coming up with more STPs to enhance the capacity of treatment.”
The two-member NGT-appointed committee’s report has also raised concerns over the fact that in some group housing societies, the per-household water consumption is ‘incredibly low’. This, the report says, could be because of malpractices such as using illegal borewells. There is also a possibility that some households may have been provided with more than one water connections
“The number of household water meters has increased from 17 lakhs to 23.70 lakhs (40% increase) in around four years after the launch of 20,000 litre of free water policy. There is a possibility of different ploys being used and people installing multiple connections within the same premises to avail of 20,000 litres free water cannot be ruled out,” the report has said.
The committee has suggested that a specialized institution such as the National Institute of Financial Policy and Planning or the CAG me be directed to examine the costs involved and revenue generated as it is leading to ‘mindless pollution of the environment and depletion of ground water’.
“It is an important observation by the committee and needs to be implemented at the soonest,” said Manoj Misra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan.