Delhi Jal Board faces Rs 1.42 trillion unpaid dues: Parvesh Verma

Water Minister Parvesh Verma on Saturday said the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is staring at an unprecedented financial crisis, with pending water bills around Rs 1.42 lakh crore across the city.

The DJB, which is in charge of supplying water, has been facing a major cash crunch.

"In three categories, we have identified that the commercial category has the highest amount of dues Rs 66,000 crore followed by the government category Rs 61,000 crore and then domestic Rs 15,000 crore," said Verma.

The minister said these are mostly Late Payment Surcharge (LPSC), adding the government plans to waive it off for domestic and government categories.

The amount of charge that would be waived off is yet to be decided, he said.

The DJB, which as well manages the sewage system, including collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater, in Delhi is also burdened by a debt exceeding Rs 70,000 crore, including principal and interest amounts.

Verma said the Delhi government has approached the Centre to assist in recovering dues from various government establishments.

"We have also requested the Centre to help the government in getting the bill dues from several government establishments owed to us. The Board urgently needs funds to execute several infrastructure projects, including the cleaning of the Yamuna and upgrading the water supply network," he added.

At least Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 crore in revenue will be collected after the LPSC waiver in the domestic and government categories, according to the government estimates.

The establishments like private schools and hospitals are all included under the commercial category besides the government buildings and offices.

Currently, the DJB has around 29 lakh registered customers.

"We plan to waive off LPSC charges and the system will be ready within a month," said Verma.

According to officials, there is also an issue of high compound interest rates on late bills -- around 18 per cent -- which increases the total bill amount significantly.

In a step towards reducing consumer disputes regarding faulty meters and meter reading issues, the DJB is also planning to replace all mechanical water meters with smart water meters, they said.