Karnataka - Mysore   

Grahakara parishat suggests regulator to fix water tariff

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, JAN. 21. The Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) has said that the water tariff in Mysore is not rational and called for a regulatory body to oversee the tariff revision.

In a release, S.K. Ananda Thirtha and Maj. Gen. (retd.) S.G. Vombatkere pointed out many deficiencies in the present tariff. They said that while fixing the tariff, the authorities concerned did not have accurate information on the number of illegal connections or the number of working meters.

"Any rational fixation of tariff should be based on accurate knowledge of capital and maintenance costs, assets and liabilities, the quantity of water consumed and the amount of water lost because of pilferage and leaks. Merely fixing the tariff is not enough. Steps must be taken to recover dues efficiently," they said.

They said the estimates pertaining to non-working meters varied from 40 per cent to 60 per cent or more and thousands of households pay a flat rate irrespective of the water consumed by them. "Many customers simply do not pay and the dues runs into crores of rupees", the parishat said.

Refuting arguments that the water tariff increase is justified as the rates are much higher in Bangalore and Mumbai, the parishat said the water system in each city has to be analysed and such comparisons are pointless.

Mr. Thirtha and Mr. Vombatkere said the financial figures used in working out new rates are suspect as the Mysore City Corporation has claimed that the annual expenditure on water supply is Rs. 27 crores. A glance at the corporation's annual budget and simple addition of 33 items under expenditures related to water supply and sewerage adds up to less than Rs. 20 crores.

The parishat drew attention to the increased liability in respect of salaries, cost of electricity, cost of maintenance and the servicing of loans. But no attention is paid to reduce these costs such as increasing the efficiency of machines, downsizing the staff strength, training the staff properly, managing inventory and increase recovery of dues from defaulters, it said.

About the electricity charges incurred to pump water, it was pointed out that all electric motors now in use to pump water in Mysore are of antiquated technology, rated at just 60 per cent efficiency even when new. "Each of these motors has gone through numerous re-windings which have reduced their efficiency. Modern motors have 90 per cent efficiency and replacing a 60 per cent efficient motor with one of these motors results in a savings of 33 per cent power," they said.

They said the corporation's proposal to fix 25,000 litres as minimum monthly consumption and charging a minimum of Rs. 60 was unfair to thousands of households that use less water. "Ideally, all connections should be metered, there should be no minimum monthly consumption charge apart from a nominal monthly meter reading charge of Rs. 5, and billing should be for actual consumption with a steeply increasing slab rate. If this cannot be implemented, then the norm of 80 litres per capita per day should form the basis, by which a family of four needs a minimum of 9,600 litres a month. About 10,000 litres can be assumed as the minimum monthly consumption with Rs. 25 as the minimum monthly charge," the parishat said.

Regulator

The trend is to set up regulatory bodies for public utilities to provide the needed expertise and cited the examples of the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India and Electricity Regulatory Commission constituted to oversee revision of tariff after a thorough study and deliberations, including public consultations following which these services have shown marked improvement and there is no reason why a similar regulatory body should not be constituted to oversee revision of water tariff.

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