The Hindu              31.01.2014

Tiruchi corporation revises water tariff

Residents of the city will have to shell out more towards water charges from April as the Tiruchirpalli City Corporation Council on Thursday revised the rates across the board for all categories of consumers.

The increase, to come into effect from April 1, will be the steepest for domestic consumers as they will have to shell out Rs. 160 a month towards water charges, 60 per cent more than the existing rate.

Deposit rates and the monthly charges for non-domestic and industrial connections have been increased.

Although the council approved a resolution in April last year providing for increasing the water charges with effect from August 1, 2013, the decision was not implemented as the government had not accepted it, officials said. The council had then fixed the water charge for domestic connections at Rs. 125 a month although the official resolution had proposed the doubling of the levy to Rs. 200 a month.

The official resolution, approved at an urgent meeting of the council chaired by Mayor A. Jaya on Thursday, justified the increase on the grounds that the civic body has to repay loans taken for the Rs. 221.42 crore new drinking water augmentation scheme.

It pointed out that the civic body in 2008 approved a resolution providing for increasing the charges in stages in the wake of the implementation of the new scheme and the civic body’s financial commitment to it.

As councillors of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were suspended from the meeting, it was left to members of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the Congress and Independent MLA M. Venkataraj to raise a feeble objection to the move.

Mr. Venkataraj and the other party members contended that the increase would put a heavy burden on residents and demanded a reduction as the new water scheme was yet to be commissioned.

City Engineer R. Chandran said the civic body had already started supplying water from the new scheme to some parts of the city and the scheme would be fully commissioned shortly.

V.P. Thandapani, Corporation Commissioner, said the corporation was only maintaining “status quo” in the light of the resolution approved by the council in 2008 and revised rates would come into effect only after the new scheme was commissioned.