GMDA hikes tariff for bulk water supply by 5%

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has revised the tariff for fresh potable water that it supplies in bulk to residential and industrial areas by 5%, taking the user charges from ₹10 to ₹10

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has revised the tariff for fresh potable water that it supplies in bulk to residential and industrial areas by 5%, taking the user charges from ₹10 to ₹10.50 per kilo litre. The revised user charges is applicable from April this year, said GMDA officials in the know of the matter.

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Abhinav Verma, executive engineer (infra II division), GMDA, said, “According to a provision of the GMDA, revision of rates for bulk water supply and sewerage user charges can be increased by 5% on the first day of every financial year commencing from the 2019-20 fiscal. The user charges were last revised and made effective from December 1, 2020, instead of April 1, 2020, keeping the Covid pandemic in consideration. The next implementation for the fiscal 2021-2022 was due on April 1, 2021, but in lieu of the exponential surge in Covid infections from April 2021 onwards, which culminated into the second wave of the pandemic, the proposed increase in rates by 5% was waived off for the benefit of the citizens.”

Verma added, “Nominal rate revision is an acceptable procedure determined on the basis of several factors such as availability, consumption, water resources etc,”

The area falling under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram gets water supply from the GMDA. Apart from this, the MCG itself, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and a few other government bodies get water supply in bulk from the authority.

Nilesh Tandon, president of Fresco Apartments RWA in Sector 50, said, “The increase in tariff will be an additional burden on RWAs like ours as we don’t charge residents the water charges. The excess amount will have to be paid from the existing maintenance charges, thus impacting some other services.”

Officials said GMDA supplies total 540-550 million litres of water per day daily from its two water treatment plants in Basai and Chandu Budhera to fulfil the city’s water demand. Work is also in progress to further augment this capacity and install drinking water pipelines in areas, which do not have access to water supply from GMDA.

The authority has also adopted the Centralised Integrated Water Management System (CIWMS) to ensure equitable distribution of water to all underground tanks connected to the main water supply pipelines of GMDA and bring down non-revenue water and curb illegal water connections.

Additionally, the sewerage charges are also liable to 5% increment every financial year, but it has not been increased this year, said officials adding that the sewerage rates will be increased in the coming fiscal.

According to a provision of the GMDA, the authority can charge sewerage rates at 20% of the current charges for bulk water supply, with a rebate of 50% on applicable charges for provision of sewerage infrastructure, subject to the conditions mentioned in the provision such as the user establishes and continuously operates the sewage of appropriate capacity and size. The user must also install online monitoring system as specified by GMDA from time to time with data feed being received on real- time basis at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in GMDA for verification. The user must ensure that the effluent parameters are within the limits prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).