The Hindu 19.11.2013
Water tariff hike to be announced in two days
A decision on increasing the water tariff in Bangalore
is expected in about two days with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
empowering the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to take
a call on the matter, and the latter in turn commencing discussions on
the quantum of hike.
In other words, Bangaloreans
should gear up to pay more for water supply from next month. The BWSSB,
that met on Monday, is believed to be working on four options to come
out with a reasonable hike.
BWSSB chairperson M.S. Ravishankar told
The Hindu
after the board meeting that the board members would study the options
and arrive at a consensus on the hike. “We will take a final call on
Tuesday or Wednesday after the members give their opinion. The new
tariff will be effective from next month,” he said. Pointing out that
the water charges had not been hiked since 2005 although power charges
were raised at least eight times, Mr. Ravishankar said the hike was
imminent now. “While our monthly expenses are nearly Rs. 75 crore, the
revenue generation is only Rs. 50 crore. Our annual power charges have
gone up from Rs 220 crore in 2005 to Rs 374 crore now,” he said.
He
said the board did not want to bridge the revenue-expenditure deficit
(which is nearly Rs. 30 crore now) at one go. “We have not revised the
tariff in nine years. But that does not mean we want to recover the
deficit in one revision itself. The idea is to ensure that the hike is
viable for both the citizens and the BWSSB,” he said.
However, he added that the proposal was to bring down the revenue deficit to the minimum possible level.
Highly
placed sources in the Urban Development Department said that although
the Chief Minister had authorised the board to take a final call on the
tariff revision, the final rates will be announced only after the Chief
Minister’s approval.
BWSSB officials have been
insisting on a reduction in the number of slabs from eight to five for
both domestic and non-domestic connections. They want the present
minimum slab of 0-8,000 litres to be revised to 0-6,000 litres. They
also want the minimum rate of a kilolitre of water to be revised from
Rs. 6 to Rs. 12.
