Although the civic authorities denied that they are delaying the project, the much-hyped scheme has been put on the back burner since June 2008.

The project is supposed to be executed under the Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP). Incidentally, the KEIP had short-listed three firms — Severn Trent (UK), Veolia (France) and Jusco — as executing agencies nearly 10 months ago.

The bidding documents were also finalised. According to a senior civic official, it was decided that the KMC would start procuring water meters from August 2008, though no headway has been made so far.

“The water meter installation project has been stalled till the Lok Sabha polls. If the LS polls do not go in favour of the Left Front, then the project will not be executed as the civic authorities do not want to take any risk before the civic polls,” said the official.

In fact, a senior KEIP official said the agency is yet to send a proposal to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the project.

“We have completed the technical evaluation for the project. But the financial process has not yet started. The proposal is under process now and will be sent to the ADB in a few months for approval,” said the official.

Initially, 20,000 meters will be procured for the first phase and the estimated cost for the first phase is Rs 9 crore.

The installation process is to be completed in three phases. First, water meters will be installed in government institutions, hospitals and offices. Second, semi-commercial institutions will be targeted and residential areas will be taken up in the third phase.

The plans and proposals, however, are gathering dust. Javed Ahmed Khan, leader of the Opposition, said the ruling party does not want to install water meters before the civic polls because of the fear of a backlash.

“We are against the installation and collection of water tax. We will not allow collection of water tax from the residents,” said Deputy Mayor Kalyan Mukherjee, an RSP leader, an ally of the CPM.