DJB's revenue increased by 50 pc during AAP rule

The Delhi government on Tuesday said the revenue of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) increased by 50 per cent since 2015, when the AAP came to power.

Between 2012-13 and 2014-15, DJB's annual revenue was declining at the rate of 7 per cent per annum. Since 2015-16, the downward slide has not only been arrested, but also reversed, the water utility said in a statement.

"The annual growth in revenue over the last four years has been close to 8 per cent per annum. The DJB earned a revenue of Rs 1,219.93 crore in 2014-15. In 2018-19, this figure has gone up to Rs 1,819.60 crore, an increase of 50 per cent since the AAP government was elected," it said.

The utility also said that reduction in leakage and theft, and improving billing efficiencies were among its biggest reforms.

"To avoid leakages and water thefts, flowmeters have been installed by the Delhi government. This has massively increased the efficiency of water distribution. The number of flowmeters installed for audit was only 350 in 2015. In 2019, it has increased by six times to 2000," it said.

This has not only improved the quality of water provided at adequate pressure, but also cut losses of the DJB, the statement said.

One of the biggest problems in the DJB's public interface was that bills were not being generated on time. Although a bimonthly billing cycle was to be followed, bills were being generated once over several billing cycles, the statement said.

"Consumers would get several months' bills together that were often inflated. The Delhi government has now upgraded the entire billing process in 15-16 zones, which constitute about half of the city's consumers, to improve the efficiency in collection.

"The upgradation was piloted in 2017 in four zones and the collection had gone up to 100 per cent. A similar process is being scaled up to cover all 40 zones," it said.