Delhi govt announces waiver of water dues, late payment surcharge

Ahead of assembly elections, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced a complete waiver of water arrears for people living in colonies categorised as E, F, G and H while consumers of rest four categories will get a rebate from 25 to 75 per cent on their long pending dues.

According to the government, consumers having functional meters by November 30 this year will be able to avail this scheme and as per rough estimate, over 22.6 lakh domestic water consumers will be benefitted.

Announcing the Delhi Jal Board's decision at a press conference, Kejriwal said that Late Payment Surcharge (LPSC) will be completely waived in all the eight categories of colonies.

The government has also announced a 100 per cent waiver on LPSC for commercial consumers if they have functional water meters by November this year.

The move comes at a time when Delhi is scheduled to go for the assembly polls in early next year.

The Delhi BJP termed the AAP government's announcement to waive water arrears a "lollipop" for Delhiites ahead of the upcoming assembly elections and alleged that half of the residents in the city were deprived of piped water supply.

Delhi's colonies are categorised from A-H. Officials said A-D category colonies are considered as middle and upper middle residential areas. 'A' category colony include those in Maharani Bagh, Chanakyapuri and Golf Links.

For 'A' and 'B' category colonies, 25 per cent rebate will be given on their principal arrears while in the 'C' category colonies, 50 per cent waiver will be provided on the same.

In 'D' category colonies, people will get a waiver of 75 per cent on their principal pending arrear. Kejriwal said that arrears of water consumers have been pending for two to five years.

"We are expecting to earn Rs 600 crore through this scheme. This is an attempt to clean our books (of pending dues).

"The arrears have accumulated not just due to non- payment of bills but also due to the fault on DJB's part including in the billing system," Kejriwal, who is the chairman of the DJB, said.

Asked about "injustice" to those paying their water bills on time, the chief minister said, "We do not have to go for another such waiver in the future."