Hyderabad: Independent homes and apartments in the city formed the higher percentage of water defaulters, when compared to commercial and industrial enterprises, according to data from 2016-17.
Out of the nine lakh consumers, only five lakh are regular payers while four lakh are either irregular with payments or have been defaulting for six months to two years. The water board has called these consumers ‘chronic defaulters’.
Of the 42 per cent of non-payers, 2.9 lakh are individual homes and apartments, 3,247 are commercial establishments and the rest are industries.
Since a majority of defaulters have not responded to the Water Board’s warnings, the authorities have started pasting red notices on their doors to shame them. The notices include the name of the defaulter and the amount due.
On Wednesday, these red corner notices were pasted on households falling under the Darushafa, Yousufguda, Tolichowki, Ramanthpur, Uppal, KPHB housing board and Habisguda.
Managing director of the Metro Water Board, M. Dana Kishore, said the board calculated pending payments from over six months and found that domestic connections formed the highest number of defaulters, followed by commercial users.
“In December last year, the board had announced a special drive asking citizens to disclose illegal connections and Rs 8.43 crore in revenue was collected from domestic connections and Rs 2.4 crore from commercial.
“But a large number of non-payers in the city have still not come forward. These red notices being pasted on their doors will be followed by disconnection of water and sewerage connection,” he warned.
The board aims to clear all dues by March 2017. Staff have been directed to inform defaulters that if bills are not cleared by the end of January, the HMWSSB will be disconnecting the water supply and sewerage connections.
