E-Paper
Irrigation dept serves water bill of ₹435 crore to PMC
The PMC has termed the bill unacceptable and inflated while the water department has threatened to disconnect the water supply on grounds of non-payment of water charges
The irrigation department has sent a water bill of ₹435 crore to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) seeking early payment of the long pending dues, officials said on Sunday.
The PMC has termed the bill unacceptable and inflated while the water department has threatened to disconnect the water supply on grounds of non-payment of water charges.
In response to orders from the state water resources regulatory commission, the water resources department tripled the current charges applied to PMC water bills. The PMC was charged extra because it used more water than the city’s allotted quota.
The irrigation department had previously sent the PMC a bill for ₹111 crores, which the civic body refused to pay because the charges were too high. Later, the irrigation department sent an aggregate bill totalling ₹435 crores until the end of January.
According to the PMC water department, the irrigation department stated in its water bill that 80 per cent of water usage was for household or domestic purposes, 15 per cent for commercial, and 5 per cent for industrial purposes. The civic body had not been catering to the industrial sector, whose water charges are very high, and thus had been incorrectly billed, according to the water department.
“The irrigation department has carried our faulty billing,” said Aniruddha Pawaskar, Chief of PMC Water Supply.
“We have shown them documentary evidence of their error. We told them we would pay the water bill, including the penalty, at the old slab rates,” he said.
The city had been granted 12.41 TMC (thousand cubic million feet) of water by the state government. The PMC estimated the city population to be more than 55 lakh, and the PMC requested 20.34 TMC of water to meet the annual water demand, but the state water resource authority set the quota at 12.41 TMC for 2022-23. According to revised estimates, the state water resources department estimates that PMC will have to pay between ₹600 and ₹700 crore in water bills each year.
The city gets water supply from Khadakwasla, Temghar, Panshet, Varasgaon, and Bhama Askhed dams.
