Get ready to tap water rates hike

It’s official now. Four years after the last revision in Delhi’s water tariff, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), on Monday, proposed a tariff hike — ranging between 57 and 160 per cent — across three slabs.

It’s official now. Four years after the last revision in Delhi’s water tariff, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), on Monday, proposed a tariff hike — ranging between 57 and 160 per cent — across three slabs.

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The DJB in its board meeting on Monday approved the new tariff. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who is also the DJB chairperson, will officially declare the new rates on Tuesday. For consumption up to 10 kilolitres (KL) or 1,000 litres per month, the new rate is likely to be Rs 80, up from Rs 52 - a 57 per cent jump.

The new rate from consumption up to 20 kilolitres is likely to be Rs 180, up from the present 82. It is a jump of more than 100 per cent. Most middle class families belong to this consumption slab.

A standard domestic water storage tank contains 1000 litres, of which around 750 litres are consumed every day, DJB sources estimate.

For consumption up to 30 KL, the proposed rate is Rs 486 — a sharp jump of around 160 per cent — from the present Rs 187.

Apart from the volumetric rates, the exact rates of per kilolitre consumption will also be declared on Tuesday.

The new tariffs make Delhi’s water costlier than it is in Chennai and Mumbai, but it continues to be way cheaper than the rates in Bengaluru. In Bengaluru, water consumption up to 20 KL costs Rs 216, which is Rs 36 more than Delhi.

Many Delhiites are of the opinion that the increased tariff along with the other additional components in the water bills makes it a really costly deal.

“There is a 60 per cent sewage charge apart from a fixed charge revised a few months ago. All that should either be lowered or done away with,” said Pankaj Aggarwal, secretary general of RWAs (resident welfare associations) Joint Front.

Delhi Jal Board officials said the hike had been on the cards for long considering the increase in the cost of operations over the years. In the past 10 years, the DJB has increased its network length from 7,000 km to 12,000 km. A big pressures on water supply is the regularisation of unauthorised colonies, DJB sources said.