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.