The Times of India 19.08.2009
Financial reforms improve water supply in twin cities
HUBLI: When Karnataka Urban Water Supply & Drainage Board (KUWSDB) was handed over maintenance and operation of water supply in Hubli-Dharwad municipal limits during the drought in 2003, the residents used to get drinking water once in 10-14 days. Six years down the line, they get it once in 4-5 days.
During the same period, while KUWS&DBs expenditure has increased from Rs 10.88 crore to Rs 17.13 crore, its revenue has shot up from Rs 3.61 crore to Rs 17.81 crore, thus generating surplus funds for expanding water supply network to uncovered areas like the newly developed extensions.
In 2003, none of the 69,000 consumers had metered connection. Today, 65% of over one lakh connections have metered supply. Those who chose to pay their water bills then had to wait for over one hour in the queue to make payment. Now, they can do it in less than 30 minutes at the neighbourhood cash centre.
Earlier, consumers had to get prior approval of the authorities before making part payment of outstanding bills. Now, part payment is allowed without prior approval. Consumers have been issued bar coded I-cards, which allows them to make payment without even producing the bills.
These are some of the IT-enabled citizen-friendly initiatives introduced by the Water Board which have enabled it to bring about metamorphic improvement in water supply scenario in the twin cities. These financial reforms have helped it bag the National Urban Water Award-2009, given by the central ministry of urban development.
KUWS&DB executive engineer K P Jayaram, who has been at the helms in the twin cities all through this trying period, gave a presentation before the awards ceremony in New Delhi, for possible replication by other urban local bodies across the country. Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy also witnessed the presentation.
Jayaram told 'TOI' that there are plans to introduce self-billing, whereby consumers will record meter reading, visit the nearest computerized collection centre, pay the bill after the system automatically calculated the amount, and walk away. Online bill payment facility is also in the offing. It will do away with human errors/ malpractices and improve revenue collection.
During the same period, while KUWS&DBs expenditure has increased from Rs 10.88 crore to Rs 17.13 crore, its revenue has shot up from Rs 3.61 crore to Rs 17.81 crore, thus generating surplus funds for expanding water supply network to uncovered areas like the newly developed extensions.
In 2003, none of the 69,000 consumers had metered connection. Today, 65% of over one lakh connections have metered supply. Those who chose to pay their water bills then had to wait for over one hour in the queue to make payment. Now, they can do it in less than 30 minutes at the neighbourhood cash centre.
Earlier, consumers had to get prior approval of the authorities before making part payment of outstanding bills. Now, part payment is allowed without prior approval. Consumers have been issued bar coded I-cards, which allows them to make payment without even producing the bills.
These are some of the IT-enabled citizen-friendly initiatives introduced by the Water Board which have enabled it to bring about metamorphic improvement in water supply scenario in the twin cities. These financial reforms have helped it bag the National Urban Water Award-2009, given by the central ministry of urban development.
KUWS&DB executive engineer K P Jayaram, who has been at the helms in the twin cities all through this trying period, gave a presentation before the awards ceremony in New Delhi, for possible replication by other urban local bodies across the country. Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy also witnessed the presentation.
Jayaram told 'TOI' that there are plans to introduce self-billing, whereby consumers will record meter reading, visit the nearest computerized collection centre, pay the bill after the system automatically calculated the amount, and walk away. Online bill payment facility is also in the offing. It will do away with human errors/ malpractices and improve revenue collection.
