Friday, May 28, 2004
Friday, May 28, 2004 |
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Bangalore
By Afshan Yasmeen
BANGALORE, MAY 27. The Murthys in Govindrajnagar have been receiving exorbitant water bills for the last three months. Following a complaint by the family, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) replaced their household water meter recently. But even now they are receiving bills with high charges, says the family. There are several families in the city that feel their household water meters are showing excess reading. But they are usually put off by the process of complaining and getting their water meters tested by the board. Now, the board says it has a solution for such harried consumers. The board will introduce a portable meter-testing machine from the next month. "This instrument can be used to measure, and also show errors in the meter, at the residence of the consumer," the board Chairman, M.N. Vidyashankar, told The Hindu on Wednesday. The board has a system of receiving a written complaint along with the prescribed meter-testing fee from consumers when they lodge complaints about faulty meters. The meters are sent to the laboratory for testing and it takes a few days for the problem to be rectified. But most of the time the consumers are not convinced with the laboratory results. "My family has four members and we are out the whole day. But our water bill is more than my neighbour's who has rented a portion of his property to two families. Probably, there is air in the meter and that's why it shows excess reading," M. Channappa, a resident of Prashanthnagar, said. Mr. Vidyashankar said the new instruments were meant to convince such consumers as the testing was done in front of them. "The portable testing machine is fitted to one end of the water pipe. Water flowing through the household meter will pass through the machine. "If the household meter reading is more than that shown in the machine, then the meter is faulty and will be replaced," he said. The board has purchased five machines from a Chinese firm for Rs. 30,000 each. "They will be placed in the subdivisions of the board and will be despatched to the doorstep of the consumer within 30 minutes of receiving a complaint," he said. The instrument could be fitted to all water meters of 15 mm and 20 mm. The rate of accuracy was plus or minus 0.001 per cent and it had a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) to show the flow through the household water meter. The instrument also had facility to give a printed statement of the reading, he added.
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