The Hindu                       10.04.2013

Now, apply online for water connection

The Kerala Water Authority, in a bid to keep middlemen
and plumbers at bay, is planning to accept new water connection
applications online.

The proposal, to be placed
before the KWA board shortly, is likely to include measures for
consumers making necessary payments either online or at local KWA
offices. The local offices will be equipped to provide application
forms. As of now, according to a top KWA official, a prospective
customer would have to pay at least Rs.10,000 for a domestic connection
when the actual fee would not be more than Rs.3,000.

The
‘rates’ are now fixed as per the whims and fancies of plumbers and a
few lower- rung KWA officials. And the rates include their ‘personal
fee’ as well.

The KWA top brass has found out that
there are around 400 new connections every year in the State capital
alone, and these are not ‘traceable’ after the connection process.
“Water is going to those connections, but there are no payments,” an
official said, adding the new system would look at curbing such illegal
connections and identifying those fleecing the consumer. At the same
time, efforts would be made to increase the number of connections.

According
to Ashok Kumar Singh, Managing Director, KWA, around Rs.400 crore is
being pumped into rural water schemes every year, but the number of new
connections being given is proportionally far less. As of now, less than
14 per cent of the 41-lakh-strong rural population in the State have
access to piped drinking water.

The aim was to give
2.85 lakh rural connections and 1.5 lakh urban connections a year to
take the access to 50 per cent from the present 14 per cent in the next
five years.

The move, along with efforts to
streamline the water charge collection system, is expected to help in
generation of revenue as well for the utility.