Hyderabad: The
Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board now has the
much-needed ‘muscle power’ to attach and auction movable and immovable
properties of consumers who do not pay their water bills even after
being served with final red notices.

The
state government has issued orders giving general managers of the Board
the powers of tahsildars and, further, delegating authority in the
field to deputy general managers to attach the properties of chronic
defaulters. Officers in the rank of general manager will be allowed to
auction the attached property too.

The
orders were issued following a request from the cash-starved Water
Board that since tahsildars of the revenue department are busy with
their revenue work, it is becoming difficult to recover water bill dues
from long-standing defaulters.

The
Water Board owes the central Discom and APTransco nearly Rs 200 crore,
and several government departments together owe the Water Board Rs 170
crore in water bills. The total water bill — dues along with arrears and
penalties — has accumulated to nearly Rs 700 crore. The Water Board can
now not only attach the properties of defaulters but also sell them to
recover its dues.

Of
the Rs 700 crore that is due, the Water Board will go after 1,800
consumers who owe a total of Rs 130 crore as these dues along with
arrears are collectable. More than 50 per cent of the Rs 700 crore
arrears is bogged down by either litigation or is in dispute.

“We
will first exhaust all possible efforts to recover dues by sending
notices followed by the final red notice before disconnection of the
water line. Only after this will we go for attachment of the movable and
immovable property,” Water Board director (operations) Manohar Babu
told this correspondent.

The
power to attach and auction properties of chronic defaulters was given
under Section 6 of the AP Rent and Revenue Sales Act, 1839.