Nagpur citizens may have to pay more for water

Nagpur citizens may have to pay more for water
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NAGPUR, FEBRUARY 23: The citizens of Nagpur, who are presently paying the lowest drinking water tax in state at Re 1 per 1,000 litre, might soon become the ones to pay the highest rates, with the Water Supply Advisory Committee instituted by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) recommending six-fold hike in the taxes.

The proposal based on the recommendations of the committee - headed by Subhash Aparajit, chairman of the Water Supply Department of the NMC - has already been approved by the NMC standing committee. The proposal will be tabled in the NMC house, which is scheduled to meet on February 29, by Dr Kalpana Pande, the Mayor.

Aparajit gave out the broad outlines of the recommendations made by the committee during a press conference held here. While he refused to give the details, maintaining that it is the right of the Mayor to do so, he hinted that the recommendations are to hike the taxes six-fold.

The NMC, which supplies about 370 million litres of water to the city per day is presently facing a loss of Rs 45 crore per year. It costs the water supply department about Rs 8.97 per litre to supply drinking water - which costs only Re 1 per litre to the citizens. This difference of Rs 8 per litre is costing the department very dear.

With the State Government directing the water supply department to conduct its affair on no-loss no-profit basis, without expecting any grants and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) hiking the electricity rates, the department is in dire financial straits.

While it will collect roughly Rs 17 crore (targeted collection till March 31, 2000) as water taxes from the citizens, it is slated to pay Rs 27 crore only as electricity bill this year. With the hike in electricity rates, this amount will rise by another Rs 6 to seven crore, it is being apprehended. The department also has to spend on other developmental activities. The Phase III of the Pench Project is due to commence soon and will require a huge expenditure by the department.

On this background, the committee has recommended the water taxes for the residential connections in the range of Rs 6 per unit. Similarly the rates for the different categories of the non-residential connections have been recommended in range of Rs 12 to Rs 20.

Aparajit mentioned that the residential rates would have to be higher in city as about 87 per cent of the connections in city are residential, in contrast to the other big cities and metropolises where the number of non-residential (commercial/industrial) connections are huge. These non-residential connections are charged at higher rates and thus bring in more revenue.

There are 1,05,395 metered connections in the city (77 pc of the meters are non-working), 16,576 connections in slum areas, 1,08,035 connections - where the consumers pay water tax in combination with house tax and 19,025 connections which are private (without meters). The consumers with unmetered connections and those whose meters are not working, that is the maximum of the water consumers, pay an average water bill. Apart from these there are estimated 60,000 illegal water connections, where water is practically used free of cost. This year's water tax collection of Rs 14 crore (up to January 2000) speaks of the poor revenue generation by the department.

The present water tax rates elsewhere in State and at Hyderabad are comparatively quite higher. Following are the rates for the residential connection holders per unit (figures in bracket denote the non-residential/industrial rates) : Aurangabad - Rs 4 (Rs 10), Sangli - Rs 4 (Rs 25), Mumbai - Rs 2.75 (Rs 11 - 28), Pune - Rs 2.75 (Rs 12), Nashik - Rs 2.25 (Rs 12), Solapur - Rs 3.50 (Rs 12.00), Hyderabad - Rs 5 (minimum of Rs 75 per month mandatory). The industrial rates at Thane is Rs 30.

All considered, the proposed six-fold hike is sure to create an intensive uproar in city and face strong opposition in the NMC house. It is being mentioned that the proposal has included the repayment account of Rs 23 crore for Kanhan Project and Rs 121 crore for the Gorewada project into the annual budget of the department while calculating the hike. Similarly the annual water cess of Rs 80 lakh collected by the State Government has also been included. If these amounts are concessioned from the budget, then the rates could come down quite substantially, it is being said.

There are indications that the rates might be settled on Rs 3 per unit for the residential connections. The powers to revise the rates every three years will be vested upon the municipal commissioner, it was further indicated.