The Indian Express 16.04.2013
Bills not paid, MC disconnects 37 water meters
Tightening its noose around the city residents defaulting on payment of water bills, the Municipal Corporation disconnected 37 water meters on Monday. Water bills amounting to around Rs 13 crore have not been cleared by government institutions as well as private individuals.
Five teams of the civic body disconnected the water meters in different areas, including Sectors 18, 37, 32, Industrial Area and Manimajra. The MC teams remove the water meters of the defaulters and seal the connection. The entire process is photographed for the sake of proof.
The drive, which will continue till the MC recovers the pending bills, was launched on Friday, and has already started producing the desired result. "Meters of 15 people were disconnected on Friday and 37 today. Now people have started paying the pending bills. A recovery of around Rs 32 lakh has been made since strict action was started. We hope to recover Rs 4-5 crore through the drive," said Superintending Engineer (Public Health) R C Diwan.
He added that in case a person got the connection re-connected, then a criminal case would be registered against the defaulter. Re-connection without permission would be considered theft of water.
On Monday, city residents thronged the MC office, seeking permission to pay the bills in instalments. The Superintending Engineer can allow the pending amount to be paid in four instalments. However, in case the meter has been disconnected then water supply would be restored only after the full amount has been paid. A re-connection fee of Rs 100 also needs to be paid.
However, while the MC is targeting the private individuals, it is still going easy on the government organisations that have high amounts pending. Among the government departments, the Horticulture Department is yet to pay an amount of Rs 1.5 crore. The amount has been pending for several years. The Punjab Civil Secretariat has a pending amount of Rs 13 lakh while the police department is to pay Rs 10 lakh.
MC officials say that for the government departments, it is an internal transaction as money has to be shifted from the accounts of one department to the other.
Amloh MLA allowed to pay in 3 instalments
Among those who visited the MC office to seek permission to settle bills in instalments was Amloh MLA Randeep Singh Nabha. He has an amount of a little over Rs 3 lakh pending as water bill. He was given permission to pay the bill in three instalments. Officials say when the MC team went to JW Marriot to disconnect water supply, the management agreed to pay the bill and the pending amount was recovered. The dues of Raj Bhawan were also deposited.
