The Indian Express            12.12.2013 

Put up info on water supply bills online, CIC tells BMC

In a letter to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Maharashtra Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Ratnakar Gaikwad said that information on balance payments of water supply should be uploaded on the civic body's website along with the names of residents and the amount to be paid by them to BMC.

The letter mentions that around 687 residents of the F-North ward have Rs 50,000 as arrears for their water bills, the total amount adding up to Rs 20 crore. This was revealed after an RTI application was filed by a resident of the ward, asking for names of residents whose water bills were over Rs 50,000 in the same ward.

Gaikwad has also set a deadline by which the civic body has to put up the information. "It is essential that people know of these arrears of payments and BMC should put up all the information on their website by January 30, 2014," Gaikwad's letter said.

Refusing to comment on the issue, an official from the F-North ward office said that the information given in the letter is false and an explanation for the same will be given to the CIC by January 26.

Gaikwad's letter, dated December 7, also says that the information was not given to the concerned individual within 30 days of filing an RTI.