Do not pay inflated water bills: Delhi CM Kejriwal

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal met the residents in the Govindpuri where he tore up an inflated water bill and asked consumers not to pay them

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday took to the streets of Delhi alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was obstructing the implementation of the Delhi government’s proposed one-time settlement scheme for unpaid inflated water bills. Kejriwal met the residents in the Govindpuri area under the Kalkaji assembly constituency where he tore up an inflated bill and asked consumers not to pay them.

CM Arvind Kejriwal meets residents of Govindpuri area on Saturday. (HT Photo)

“We have made water free. We are trying to bring a scheme to waive off incorrect bills, but BJP is stopping the scheme through the lieutenant governor (LG). BJP interferes in all our work... why are they harbouring such enmity against the people? They should let the people’s work be done,” Kejriwal said.

Last week, the Delhi government announced the scheme to allow residents to clear pending water bills after paying substantially reduced amounts recalculated based on usage patterns. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has 2.7 million consumers of which 1.6 million have not paid their dues after receiving inflated bills. Kejriwal said that the secretaries of the urban development and the finance departments were obstructing the implementation of the scheme at the behest of the BJP-led central government.

While interacting with people, Kejriwal said that the issue of exorbitant water bills emerged during the pandemic. “Many of the people I met live in small 50 square-yard houses, yet they receive bills of ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh. This problem started during the Covid-19 times. During Covid-19 there were incorrect meter readings. To address this issue, we conducted a thorough assessment and found that approximately 110,000 lakh families are receiving incorrect bills. So, we have brought a scheme to automatically correct the bills,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal added that according to the government estimates, 90-95% of the unpaid bills will be waived off because they will fall under the 20,000-litre monthly water consumption category.

“People are forced to make rounds of the Delhi Jal Board... I would request you not to pay the bills. The scheme... would correct 90-95% of the bills. However, BJP has stalled this scheme through the LG’s intervention... this is deplorable,” Kejriwal added.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said Kejriwal was a “master in the art of misleading people”.

“As he is surrounded by corruption allegations... Kejriwal has raised the issue of people getting exorbitant water bills from DJB. The people of Delhi understand that DBJ is inundated in scams... installation of air-flow water meters has caused the problem of inflated bills. BJP has no problem with the scheme but our settlement... it will be appreciated if DJB offers zero bills to all disputed consumers,” Kapoor said.