Delhi Jal Board To Snap Water Connections Of Consumers With Pending Bills

New Delhi: To address the water crisis for the summer months ahead, the Delhi Jal Board is gearing up to snap connections of errant consumers who do not pay bills on time. Water Minister Pravesh Verma said the Summer Action Plan is ready to address the water crisis faced by Delhiites. For that purpose, the government is constantly keeping a tab on the situation and nodal officers are being deployed in areas for uninterrupted water supply, he added.

There are about 28 lakh consumers in Delhi registered for water supply and the water that Delhi gets from its neighbouring states is sufficient to meet their demands, Verma said. "But its management is not good, which results in water supply interruptions in every area of ​​Delhi. The new government is going to fix this. By stopping water leakage, whether adequate water is being supplied to that area as per its population or not is being monitored. We are holding meetings every second or third day to gauge the situation, the grievances we are getting and how prepared we are," Verma added.

"It has also been seen that according to the data of Jal Board, there are around 11 lakh consumers who have not paid water bills estimated to be ar Rs 5,700 crore for years. Such consumers will now be sent notices asking to pay their bills, failing which, their connection will be disconnected. Data should be collected from those who have been given connections by the electricity companies, and a survey of each household should be conducted to determine the actual number of consumers. Action will be initiated accordingly," Verma said.

Verma said nodal officers are being deployed in every area to ensure non-discrimination in the distribution of water. They have been tasked with monitoring the water supply in their respective areas and reporting any problem directly to the board, he added.

Water board officials said it is being discussed to implement a system where the supply can be disconnected from the office for not clearing accumulating bills.

"This will first be implemented for commercial users, followed by individuals. The water level is good in many areas of Delhi, and where fresh water is available, more tubewells are being installed," he said.

Delhi gets 1,012 cusecs of water daily from Haryana and around 140 million gallons per day of water from Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh through the Ganga Canal. There are more than 200 reservoirs in Delhi, but the Jal Board has no data on the groundwater storage.

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