The Hindu      07.12.2010

Illegal connections: water board to crack the whip

Hyderabad: No quarters asked and none given. That's the toughened stand of Water Board now. It has decided to show no mercy to consumers who have illegal water connections.

In its fight against the lawbreakers, the Water Board will not trust its own staff lest they have a soft corner for some consumers.

In a change of tack, it has resolved to take the help of external watchdogs to unearth illegal connections and take action.

Recruitments

The water board is in the process of recruiting 10 ex-servicemen, 30 home guards besides three military engineering service officers who have experience in water and sewerage.

The idea is that these retired personnel will have no local obligations and wouldn't mind acting tough against such illegal connections.

The Water Board has already written to the Sainik Welfare Board and the Commandant of Home Guards for sending their men. “They will be with us shortly,” said K. Ashok Reddy, executive director, HMWSSB.

The water board now has a lone Inspector, two police constables and seven home guards – hardly sufficient to keep watch on the city which has increased from 170 sq. km to 560 sq. km.

The number of water connections too have shot up from 4 lakh to 7.5 lakh, particularly in the municipalities skirting the city.

The water board had high hopes on the recently concluded voluntary disclosure scheme.

But it resulted in only 10,000 consumers coming forward to regularise their connections.

Authorities believe there are at least 50,000 more illegal connections which need to be regularised. Therefore, the plan to strengthen the vigilance wing.

Ex-servicemen's role

Ex-servicemen have no axe to grind and they are expected to act firmly.

Their job will be to go after illegal connections, file cases and follow up wilful big defaulters.

Based on their report the water board might also initiate action against its delinquent filed staff.

The Times of India  06.12.2010 

Water Board to offer incentives to `informants'

HYDERABAD: To get information about the over 35,000 illegal water connections in the city, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has decided to offer incentives to informants snitching on illegal connections. The new scheme will most probably start in January, 2011.

The Water Board has fixed Rs 1,000 as minimum incentive for providing information on illegal water connections. The incentive would be increased depending on pipe size, particularly to multi-storied buildings (MSBs). For MSBs, the incentive could be between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

"It is a tough job to detect illegal connections. Though we put our men on it, we could not succeed. Due to the illegal water connections, the Water Board has been losing crores of revenue. Now, we hope informants will help us detect the illegal water connections," HMWS&SB executive director K Ashoka Reddy told STOI.

For this, the Water Board would soon post addresses of 7.20 lakh connections with consumer account numbers (CANs) on its website (www.hyderbadwater.gov.in). The board claims over 35,000 connections with proper CANs could be illegal ones.

The informant has to report the illegal connection's location and name of the owner of the property on an exclusive telephone line, whose number will be posted on the website soon. However, the informant has to give his CAN number so that officials could verify the claim before giving the incentive amount. The caller's voice would be recorded automatically on the website. After receiving the information, the Water Board staff would verify the information within three days. "If it is correct, the informant will have to collect the incentive in person. The Water Board will not disclose the identity of the informant," Ashoka Reddy added.