Hyderabad: The Metro Water Board's crackdown on defaulters has revealed that most violators are from urban pockets of the city, not slums. Not only independent houses, but apartments are on the defaulters’ list too. In all, domestic defaulters owe the Board Rs 60 crore.
While many apartments pay electricity bills regularly, they have not cleared their water bill for months. Over the last 15 days, 1,200 connections have been cut by the Board staff. The total arrears of the Board are Rs 790 crore, which include dues from the government, commercial and industrial sectors.
Talking about the disconnection drive, revenue officer of HMWS&SB, Mr Sridhar Babu said, “In the past 15 days, 1,200 connections have been disconnected for non-payment of current bill and arrears. Many defaulters have paid on the spot; else the number would have been higher.
Of the Rs 790 crore arrears, Rs 260 crore have to be collected from commercial establishments, Rs 60 crore from domestic and the rest from government offices and industries; a few are in dispute.” He added, “Apartments are bulk consumers; residents pay other civic bills except water.”
HMWS&SB managing director Mr M. Dana Kishore added, “Board staff have been directed to collect arrears from commercial connections that have been pending for more than six months, by end of September, 2016. Orders have been given to collect 100 per cent ‘Current Demand’ and 30 per cent arrears. Focus should be on reducing the number of unpaid CANs to improve revenues. Disconnections of defaulters’ commercial CANs, government CANs should continue. Further, from mid-September onwards, the domestic connections having arrears for more than three months will be disconnected.”
The Water Board has issued 51,000 notices over the last three months to domestic consumers for having faulty meters or no meters. Records reveal that out of the 8.4 lakh domestic consumers, 4 lakh consumers have meters that exist only on paper, while another 2 lakh consumers have no meters at all.
Pay bill by August 30 or lose valuables
If one fails to pay pending water bills by August 30, officials will impose the Revenue Recovery Act against defaulters. If they do not pay even after receiving the notice, their movable properties will be seized.
“Identified defaulters will be given a chance to pay arrears. Consumers who fail to clear their dues will receive a notice from the Board. Later, the RR Act will be imposed. Movable properties like TV, bikes, fridge, cars etc. can be seized according to the pending bill amount,” said a revenue official from HMWS&SB.
The RR Act was introduced by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government. It states: “The AP Revenue Recovery Act gives authority to all the general managers (Engineering) operation and maintenance to attach ‘movable’ properties of the defaulters for recovery of the arrears due to the Board U/s 52-B of the Andhra Pradesh Revenue Recovery Act.” In a related issue, an meter reader, Mr Nagaraj, was assaulted and injured when he went for due collection at a house.
