Big Delhi water bill waiver on anvil, says minister

On Monday, Verma added that DJB will be rolling out a new integrated control system to respond better to water related issues

Delhi cabinet minister Parvesh Verma has announced that the government of the Union Territory will soon launch a “major bill waiver scheme”, and reduce pending “domestic bills by up to 90%”.

Delhi cabinet minister Parvesh Verma (HT Photo)

The previous government stated in June 2023 that 1.17 million consumers had domestic outstanding bills totaling ₹5,737 crore. Since then, the quantum of pending bills has only increased, said Delhi Jal Board officials. The UT has 2.89 million connections. It wasn’t immediately clear how the government would ensure that the waiver was not unfair to people who have paid their bills on time, and in their entirety. The minister did not elaborate on this and on the fineprint of the waiver.

“The billing system is also going to be updated, software for this is being developed and there are some technical issues that are being worked out,” Verma said, talking about the works to be carried out in water sector, PWD and Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC), in a press conference to mark his ministries achievemnts in the BJP governments first 100 days in power in the UT.

The massive backlog of unpaid water bills has been a contentious issue in the national capital . In June 2023, the AAP government, led by Arvind Kejriwal, announced a “one-time settlement scheme” aimed at benefiting approximately 1.17 million water consumers with pending arrears. However, the settlement scheme was never implemented owing to a standoff between the government and the bureaucracy. While campaigning for the 2025 Delhi elections, AAP once again promised to waive inflated bills if voted back into power.

DJB officials said that the pendency numbers have only gone up. In an April report, DJB stated that there are 2899615 water connections in the city out of which bills for around 4,22,000 were not paid in the last year alone (the other pending bills are older)

Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which is in charge of water supply across the city, has launched several rebate schemes and announced five amnesties over the last 12 years.

On Monday, Verma added that DJB will be rolling out a new integrated control system labelled “One City, One Control Room, One Number”– to respond better to water related issues. “Water distribution will be rationalised based on population in each constituency. We have identified Illegal water tapping which is being curbed. A new sewer master plan is being prepared, for which a global tender will be floated,” he added. The minister said that the government has committed that by 2027, all of Delhi’s 1800 unauthorised colonies will have access to sewer lines. “This is the first time such a comprehensive commitment has been made with a clear deadline.”

Talking about his government’s first 100 days in power, Verma said that it has taken steps to address issues such as waterlogging by installing extra pumps at waterlogging hotspots. “Around 35% of PWD drains have been desilted till now and for the remaining work, we have set the deadline of June 15,” said Verma. “Around 1.5 million metric tonnes of silt has been removed from large drains under the control of the irrigation and flood control department,” he added. “Encroachments on drains are also being removed to ensure free flow of water during monsoon,” the minister said, adding that in an attempt to boost manpower capacity, 156 new posts have been sanctioned in the department.