This summer, residents of the Secunderabad Cantonment
Board (SCB) will not only have to deal with insufficient water supply
but also bear higher water bills. The new rates will be effective April
1.

The SCB has approved a hike in monthly tariff for
domestic consumers from Rs.125 to Rs.275 and for apartment buildings
with 10 flats from Rs.1, 250 to Rs. 2,815. For every additional flat,
the charges will be Rs. 337.50 as against the existing Rs. 150.

“We
are shocked. Water is supplied once in three days at Karkhana, Mudfort,
Kakaguda, Vasavi Nagar, Sikh Village and many other areas. It would be
better if authorities improve water supply than increase charges,” says
A.E. Vijay Kumar, secretary, Secunderabad Cantonment Citizen Welfare
Association.

Big price to pay

Regularisation
charges of unauthorised water connections have also been increased from
Rs.10, 000 to Rs.15, 000. Further, authorities have set a deadline of
March 15 for regularising illegal connections.

There
are nearly 15,000 water connections in over 300 residential colonies and
125 slums. But there could be at least 10,000 illegal connections
across the cantonment, concedes a senior official.

Four
special teams have been formed to detect illegal connections and if
any, apart from levying huge penalty, water connections would not be
sanctioned to such consumers, said the official.

The
new charges have been approved by the SCB’s elected board members. The
file will now be sent to the SCB President Sunil S. Bodhe for formal
approval, he said.

The rationale

Defending the move, authorities list out many reasons for increasing water charges.

The
Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), which
supplies about 45 lakh gallons a day to the SCB, had already increased
water charges from Rs. 6.50 per kilolitre to Rs. 13.50 per kilolitre
since November 2011.

Revenue collections

The
SCB runs up a monthly water bill of about Rs.1.06 crore, while its
revenue collection is to the tune of Rs. 30 lakh, an SCB official said.

The
last time water charges were raised was in June 2008 — from Rs. 86 per
month to Rs. 125. Since then, maintenance costs have gone up drastically
and so has the demand for water. Every month, about Rs. 20 lakh is
required for power supply and maintenance of pump houses in the SCB.

Considering all these, charges have to be increased, says the official.