7 lakh DJB consumers benefited from free water scheme

Over seven lakh Delhi Jal Board consumers have benefited from the 20,000 liter free water scheme (FWS) of the Delhi government.
Thirty per cent of the total active consumers of the DJB were found eligible for availing benefit under the scheme and they got "zero" water bill in the last billing cycle from April 7 to June 7.
Keeping their pre-poll promises, the AAP government had launched 20,000 liters free water scheme with fanfare on March 1 this year.
The scheme costs the state exchequer Rs 1,670 crore annually and an amount of 23.3 crores has been already spent in the span of last three months, a senior DJB official said.

However, the domestic consumers using more than 20,000 liter per month are being billed as per the applicable tariff for their full consumption.
As per DJB statistics, North and West zone has the maximum number of consumers benefiting from the scheme followed by the consumers of East and North East.
The scheme provides free water supply up to 20,000 litres to consumers having functional water meter only.
"Everyday people are coming forward to install functional water meters to avail the benefit of the scheme. Apart from providing benefits to the people, the scheme also promotes water conservation," the senior DJB official said.