The government is likely to introduce sewerage tariff and enhance the
domestic water tariff to recover the operation and maintenance cost of
water supply and sewerage services from beneficiaries.

The
government has proposed to collect a one-time deposit and monthly
sewerage tariff for sewerage connections, said P R Meena, secretary of
PWD. A proposal has been moved and is awaiting Cabinet approval, she
said.

Though a notification in this regard was issued, it wasn’t
implemented due to lacuna in the policy. It was being re-notified by 
including all users, instead of limiting it to only beneficiaries of
Puducherry under the Comprehensive Sewerage Scheme for Urban Areas of
Puducherry (CSSUAP), he said.

With the government implementing
the  underground sewerage scheme at an outlay of `203.4 crore with
financial assistance under JNNURM scheme (80 per cent Central government
funding), the recovery of operation and maintenance cost is one among
the reforms mandated.

Under phase-I of the JNNURM, two projects,
namely the CSSUAP and drinking water supply augmentation from
Dowleswaram to Yanam are under implementation. The cost of
implementation of drinking water supply project is `48 crore, of which,
the Central assistance is Rs 32 crore and the remaining `18 crore has to
be met by  UT administration.

Under CSSUAP, three sewage
treatment plants (STP) is being constructed at Karuvadikuppam, 
Dubrayanpet and  Kanagaeri with a capacity of 17 million litres per day
(MLD) each, PWD chief engineer S Manohar said. Along with the existing
15 MLD plant at Karuvadikuppam and 2.5 MLD at Dubrayanpet, the total
capacity of sewage treatment will go up to 68.5 MLD. The projects are
expected to be completed by the middle of next year, he added.

The
sewerage charges proposed for domestic and residential building in five
different slabs with monthly tariffs ranges from `15 to `35 per
connection and deposit of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. For apartments, the
monthly tariff is `35 for each unit and they have to give Rs 10,000 as
deposit. For commercial buildings, the monthly tariff ranges from `300
per connection to Rs 1,000 per connection and deposit of Rs 5,000 to Rs
25,000.

Similarly, the revision of domestic water tariff has also
been proposed for recovering the operation and maintenance cost, said
Meena. The proposal is awaiting cabinet approval, she said.