Officials hampering plans to bring water bills waiver: Kejriwal

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the AAP will launch a major agitation in the city if the scheme is not implemented quickly

The Delhi assembly on Monday passed a resolution urging lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena to get the Delhi Jal Board’s one-time settlement scheme, which seeks to settle unpaid bills of over 1 million water consumers in Delhi, implemented by issuing necessary directions to Delhi government officials concerned.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Assembly on Monday. (HT Photo)

Speaking in the Delhi assembly on the resolution moved by AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said officials were obstructing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s plans to bring a one-time settlement scheme for unpaid water bills, and announced the AAP will launch a major agitation in the city if the scheme is not implemented quickly.

In the resolution, Gautam said the principal secretary, urban development and principal secretary, finance, have refused to implement the scheme despite written orders from ministers. The resolution urged LG Saxena to direct the officers to implement the scheme.

Under the amended GNCTD Act, bureaucrats in Delhi report to the lieutenant governor.

In his speech in the House over the issue, Kejriwal said the officers have said that they are facing threats. “The officers have not implemented the scheme even though eight months have passed. The finance secretary has to write his comments (on the file) before it can be brought before the cabinet. The finance secretary has written on the file that he will not give comments. Urban development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj gave written directions to the secretary of the urban development department to bring the scheme before the cabinet. The UD secretary said that he will not put up the scheme before the cabinet unless the finance secretary give his comments. The finance secretary is saying that he will not give comments. The ministers called many officers and asked why they were doing so. A couple of senior IAS officers started crying. I never saw an IAS officer crying like that,” the chief minister said.

“They said that their jobs are at stake. We are getting threats from higher-ups that they will be suspended if they pass the scheme. This is why they (BJP) were fighting for the control of services. The officers are being threatened that they will be suspended and sent to jail. The officers said we can resign but we cannot pass this scheme. In a way, a serious constitutional crisis is unfolding in Delhi because officers are giving in writing that they will not work. How will the govt work? Does it suit the Centre to obstruct the work of the people. BJP is behind it all,” Kejriwal said.

“Had Delhi been a full state the officers could not have dared to ignore the directions of the ministers. Consumers are in distress, and we have come up with the scheme to provide them relief,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal said he informed LG VK Saxena, who controls the officers working with the Delhi government on behalf of the central government, about the situation. “I went to the LG and informed him that the officers were getting threatened. LG said he did not have information about it. I request the LG with folded hands that if he telephones the officers the officers will get it done within three hours. If the officers still refuse to do it, then the LG has the power to suspend them,” said Kejriwal.

“I request the BJP to get the scheme approved from the LG. I will give all the credit to the BJP for it,” Kejriwal said.

Neither Delhi government officers nor the LG responded to requests for comment.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva has said that the Arvind Kejriwal government installed faulty meters, increased consumers’ erratic water bills, and is now engaged in dirty politics under the guise of bill settlement. “To provide relief to harassed consumers of air flow meters, it is necessary for the Kejriwal government to acknowledge that faulty bills were issued by the government meters, which we are rectifying. The Kejriwal government had made big promises of providing water supply by laying pipeline networks in unauthorized colonies and clusters, but even after nine years, the tanker mafia continues to exploit Delhi,” Sachdeva said.

Last week, the Delhi government announced that it will soon float a “one-time settlement scheme” that will allow residents to clear their pending water bills after paying substantially reduced amounts that have been recalculated based on their usage pattern.The planned move will offer relief to over a million consumers who have complained of inflated water bills for several years, especially since the Covid-19 lockdown, when meter readings became erratic

According to Delhi Jal Board officials, around 40% (1.6 million) of their 2.7 million consumers are facing problems of inflated water bills since the past several months and a majority of them have stopped paying bills altogether. The scheme has been will allow residents to clear their dues after paying a considerably reduced amount, that will be recasted on their usage pattern.

The government expects that the one-time settlement scheme will bring in a revenue of around ₹2,500 crore, officials said.

Kejriwal asked the AAP MLAs to visit households that have unpaid bills and the consumers not to pay the bills because “Arvind Kejriwal is working to bring the one-time settlement scheme”. “If they (BJP) does not do it, we will launch a major agitation on the issue,” Kejriwal said..

Leader of opposition in Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri termed it a “drama” being played by the AAP government. “Before the AAP came to power, DJB was had a profit of ₹600 crores. Now, it runs a debt of ₹75,000 crores. The problem of drinking water has aggravated in the city. The officers do not follow the instructions of the AAP government because the AAP ministers direct them to do illegal work. The AAP does not work and only indulges in the blame game saying that the officers and the LG are not letting them work,” Bidhuri said.

The resolution was put to vote and was passed unopposed since seven of the eight BJP MLAs had been suspended by the Speaker on Friday, and the lone BJP MLA in the House, Bidhuri, supported the AAP resolution.