Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Water charges may not go up despite arrears

Special Correspondent

Corporation owes Rs. 9.46 crore to TWAD Board

COIMBATORE: Despite the arrears the Coimbatore Corporation needs to pay to the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board and the rise in cost of maintenance of the supply system, the civic body may not go in for a hike in drinking water charges for the time being.

The hike may not be made despite the suggestion made at the highest level of municipal administration that the civic body can raise more revenue by increasing the charges and that this will also help wipe the arrears.

A meeting on the dues to TWAD Board from urban local bodies and their pending schemes, held on February 13 by the Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply, suggested that the Corporation increase the water charges to reduce the arrears.

Even five months after the meeting, there is no open statement on the water charges here. With local body elections scheduled for October, water charge hike is a subject clearly avoided at all levels of the Corporation.

With great difficulty, the Corporation increased the charges to Rs.3.50 for 1,000 litres (up to 50,000) litres for the domestic connections a couple of years ago. But councillors did not allow it to be on a par with what the civic body paid to the TWAD Board (Rs.4.50).

Sources in the Corporation say that with more houses coming up, more connections can be released and this will bring more revenue in the form of deposit and consumption charges.

With the Corporation planning water supply lines in unapproved layouts, the sources say this will fetch more revenue. Besides, the Rs.1 crore now spent on providing water in lorries to these layouts can be used to bring down the arrears.

The Corporation informed the Council recently that it owed the TWAD Board only Rs. 9.46 crore as arrears out of the Rs. 20.42 crore accumulating over the last 10 years as charges for the maintenance of the Siruvani Dam. The charge should be paid to the Government of Kerala through the TWAD Board.

The meeting had also suggested that the Corporation should take various measures to increase its water revenue and this shall include tariff revision, removal of illegal connections and checking of meters. By these measures, it would be possible for the Corporation to raise additional revenue in order to clear arrears to the TWAD Board.

Corporation sources, however, say that revenue leakage in the water supply front is high and attribute it to poor meter reading and assessment of charges.

Revenue is also lost because re-classification of domestic connections to non-domestic connections has not been done in many buildings that have been converted from residential to commercial.

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