PUNE: The PCMC standing committee has approved a policy for recovery of outstanding water bill dues. The policy will come into effect after the civic general body approves it.

The policy says that, because of various complaints regarding water bills, on an average, only 30% of the total water charges has been collected in the past three years. The complaints related to non-installation of water meters, fast or non-functional meters, and problems about meter readings.

The civic water supply department has stated that there is a need for concentrating on five aspects, namely, recovery of dues, bringing all consumers into the civic water supply system, installation of meters to all connections, effective action against unauthorized connections and regular and timely distribution of bills. The department has stated that there is a shortage of manpower for taking meter readings, making computerized entry of the information at zonal levels, and for preparing water bills and distributing them.

The policy mooted an amnesty scheme for citizens to clear their outstanding bills. A private agency would be appointed to prepare and distribute bills. If the consumers have not installed water meters, they will have to do it at their own expense. There are instances where commercial water connections were given to buildings when the construction was in progress and the people who later reside in them after the construction was completed are charged commercial rates instead of residential rates. In such cases, the residents should give proof of the date when they started living there, like copies of building completion certificate, sale deed, and application made to the civic body for charging property tax. Then the civic body will charge them as per the residential rates.