Noida to issue notices to 107 defaulters who owe ₹46.21 crore in water dues

The authority will start the process of recovering the dues from August 28 this year.

The Noida authority Tuesday said it has started issuing notices to major defaulters, who have not paid their water and sewage charges for a long time.

The Noida authority Tuesday said it has started issuing notices to major defaulters, who have not paid their water and sewage charges for a long time.(Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times (Representative image))

According to a survey conducted by the Noida authority, there are 107 major defaulters, who owe a total of ₹46.21 crore to the authority. These defaulters include those who own the commercial, industrial and institutional properties in the city.

The authority will start the process of recovering the dues from August 28 this year. The authority has formed three teams to start the process of recovery, officials said.

“We have decided to be tough against all kinds of financial defaulters, who are not paying the dues to the authority. We will act as per law against defaulters and recover our dues,” Ritu Maheshwari chief executive officer of the Noida authority, said.

Apart from these big defaulters, the authority will also compile a list of minor defaulters, who have not paid water and sewer dues. These defaulters include individual plot owners, builders and others, officials said. However, the authority will prepare a list of these minor defaulters at a later stage, officials said — the first priority is to recover the money from major defaulters.

There are around 78,000 consumers who have water supply connections across the city. But the authority has been failing to earn the desired revenue owing to people not paying up, officials said.

In March 2018, the authority had cut water connections of 29 defaulters in Sector Phase-2, Sector 83, group housing complexes in Sector 93, industrial plot owners in sectors 63, 65, 6, 4, hospitals in sectors 110, 8 and 1. But still, the authority could not recover all its dues.

At present, Noida earns only ₹50 crore from the 78,000 consumers, while it spends ₹150 crore annually to maintain its water supply services. The authority is struggling to bridge the ₹100-crore revenue gap. Officials said they fear that if the situation continues to remain the same, it will become difficult for the authority to run its water supply services.