Giving a relief to maintaining the Golf course at the Golf Club here, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) which had sent a disconnection notice to the Golf Club for failing to pay the arrears to the tune of Rs 18 lakh, has decided not to go ahead with the disconnection procedures.  The KWA has now decided to intimate the higher authorities and also the government regarding the arrears and disconnecting the service.

The KWA on November 27 served a notice on the Golf Club seeking payment of water charge arrears, stating that the service will be disconnected within five days. The club has to pay to the tune of Rs 18.78 lakh to the Water Authority, the dues from July 2003 to October 2013.

KWA officials said that it has left with the higher authorities and the government to decide on the disconnection issue. They said that the notice has been served on a routine basis. However, no payment has been made till now with respect to the arrears, they said.

Though the arrears have accumulated over the years, the major part of the arrears were before the Golf course was taken over by the government in 2010. The club members maintain that the club was only liable to pay the arrears before the government’s takeover of the course. Moreover, they alleged that the KWA had not bothered to fix the faulty meter so that the actual consumption of water can be calculated as per a High Court directive three year ago.  The present water connection is the only one left now in the Golf course after the KWA disconnected two of the other connections earlier for non-payment of the arrears. An amount of Rs 84,66,774 and Rs 58,05,120 has come as water charge arrears as on February 21, 2013, for the two disconnected services.

The arrears for the water connections had accumulated over the years even before the government took over the course in 2010.