Kejriwal announces a waiver scheme on water bill arrears, will benefit 1.3 million consumers

Kejriwal said in the next five years, households in Delhi will have round-the-clock water supply. By that time, the CM said the availability of water in Delhi will be up by 30% to 40% owing to various initiatives of the government that include the Yamuna water conservation project.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday announced a waiver scheme on the arrears on water bills, a move that is likely to benefit around 1.3 million consumers who have arrears and they cumulatively owe the Delhi Jal Board around ₹2,500 crore. The waiver scheme will apply to all bills till March 31, 2019.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced a scheme of waiver on water bill arrears for both domestic and commercial users. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Kejriwal said in the next five years, households in Delhi will have round-the-clock water supply. By that time, the CM said the availability of water in Delhi will be up by 30% to 40% owing to various initiatives of the government that include the Yamuna water conservation project, revival of lakes and fixing leakages and pilferages in the supply network.

The announcement comes at a time when Delhi is gearing up for the assembly polls, likely to be scheduled early next year. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has already announced free rides for women on public buses and the Metro; a waiver on electricity bills to low-end consumers; and a free Wi-Fi hotspot project across the city.

When asked if such a scheme could encourage people to deliberately default on water bills, Kejriwal said, “That won’t be possible. This is the last such announcement.”

Under the scheme announced on Tuesday, all households, which have functional meters installed by November 30, 2019, will be entitled to a 100% rebate on late payment surcharge arrears (charged at 5% on the unpaid bill amount every month) and a rebate ranging between 25% and 100% on the principal arrear amount, depending on the category of the colony (as fixed by civic agencies for evaluating property tax) where a particular household is located, Kejriwal said.

Neighbourhoods in Delhi are graded by civic agencies in categories ranging from A to H on the basis of location, availability of amenities, public services, accessibility, connectivity, etc. On this scale, category A colonies such as Anand Niketan and Basant Lok would be the most affluent and category H colonies such as Begumpur, Burari and Chhawla would be the least affluent.

Under the scheme, the top beneficiaries would be households in the low income colonies (E to H categories) who would get a 100% exemption on both principal and surcharge.

“Households that do not have functional water meters installed, but would get it done by the given deadline (November 30), will also be entitled to avail of the benefits of the scheme,” the chief minister said.

He further said commercial users, too, can get a 100% waiver on late payment surcharge but none on the principal amount that is due as on March 31, 2019. “To facilitate payment, the government has introduced an instalment system. But to avail of the waiver benefit, they have to complete the payment in three instalments by November 30,” Mohaniya said.

The total arrears on the current date amount to around ₹2,500 crore for domestic consumers and around ₹1,500 crore for commercial users, Kejriwal said, adding that the scheme is expected to help the government recover revenue to the tune of ₹600 crore.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised Kejriwal over the announcement and called it “a poll stunt”. “This reflects that he is apprehensive of his defeat,” Vijender Gupta, leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, said.

Several residents’ welfare associations in Delhi called it a “temporary relief” for households. “RWAs have been claiming that automated water meters initially installed in households by the DJB were faulty. The DJB does not have a scheme to allow citizens to replace these faulty meters. Unless these are replaced, erroneous bills that lead to arrears in the first place will continue to be generated,” Saurabh Gandhi, general secretary of United Residents of Delhi, an umbrella body of RWAs, said.