No afternoon water supply in Chandigarh from July 16

MC increases morning and evening supply by half-an-hour to reduce supply costs, while expecting demand to lower in monsoon

Even as it moves forward with its plans to supply 24X7 water supply in the city, the municipal corporation on Thursday decided to shut down the afternoon water supply from July 16.

With no hike in water tariff between 2011 and 2020, MC earned only ₹87 crore against an expenditure of ₹215 crore last year. (HT File Photo)

However, it will provide additional half-an-hour supply in morning and evening. The morning supply will last from 3.30am to 9am and the evening supply from 5.30pm to 9pm.

MC commissioner KK Yadav said, “With the onset of monsoon, summer has ended and demand for afternoon supply is not very high. We are doing this on a trial basis. If residents don’t experience any problems, we will continue it.”

With the decision, MC also expects to save in crores. “We are spending around ₹14 crore annually on the afternoon supply. It is much less expensive to increase the duration of the morning and evening supply,” said Yadav.

With no hike in water tariff between 2011 and 2020, MC earned only ₹87 crore against an expenditure of ₹215 crore last year.

With the September 2020 water tariff hike, it expected to add ₹60 crore in receipts from the supply. However, with the UT administration putting a stay on the hiked water tariff, the gap between its cost of supplying water and its recovery is likely to widen up to ₹90 crore.

Notably, on Wednesday, the UT administration had turned down MC’s request for allocation of ₹90 crore as special grant, mainly in lieu of losses due to reduction in water tariff and to carry out developmental works.

In response to MC’s demand, made around a month back, the UT stated that it had no funds to provide the grant sought and that more funds can only be sought from the government under revised estimates for 2021-2022.

“Now, with the afternoon water supply being shut, MC should ensure that there is no hike in water tariff after March next year. MC will save a lot by not pumping water in the afternoon. It should also ensure adequate water pressure in all localities of the city,” said Hitesh Puri, chairman, Chandigarh Resident Association Welfare Federation.