Deccan Herald 07.10.2013
Water tariff in City likely to be hiked next week
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board
(BWSSB) is set to announce revised water tariffs in the coming week,
after a gap of eight years.
“If you need quality
service from BWSSB, you will have to pay more for the water you
receive,” says P N Srinivasachary, principal secretary, Urban
Development Department (UDD).
“The hike plan by BWSSB, proposed
and sent eight days ago, is a little more than 10 per cent. The UDD is
likely to place the proposal before the chiefminister. The revised rates
will be applicable after the Cabinet approval,” he said.
“Whenever BWSSB digs up roads to lay
pipelines, ideally it is the duty of the Board to restore it. Since
there is no budget for restoration, it is handed over to the BBMP, which
sometimes delays carrying out the work. If citizens want quality
service from BWSSB, they have to contribute more to strengthen the
system,” he added.
Power tariff has been hiked more than four
times in five years and ideally, BWSSB should also have hiked the tariff
in the same interval, the principal secretary said.
On an
average, BWSSB generates a monthly revenue of Rs 45 crore and the Board
spends close to Rs 32 crore towards power charges as Cauvery water gets
pumped at three stages from a distance of 100 km from Thorekadanahalli
(TK Halli) and is subsequently pumped to various reservoirs in the City
for distribution.
An amount of Rs 10 crore is spent towards
salary of BWSSB employees and the meager amount remaining goes towards
operation and maintenance, which includes chlorination, repair works and
pipe replacement work, taken up on priority.
BWSSB had increased
water tariff of bulk consumers in July this year, including residents
of high-rises, multi-storey buildings, villas and government housing
complexes. Now, the tariff is likely to be increased for individual
consumers, the largest section of Board’s consumers.
No profit, no loss
The
Board, which now supplies over 1,000 mld (million litres of water per
day) to over 7.2 lakh consumers through metered connections and another
60,000 consumers through water tankers, is running on a ‘no profit, no
loss’ basis. BWSSB is also supplying free drinking water to residents of
110 villages at 62 locations following a High Court direction.
