VISAKHAPATNAM: Maintaining that the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation's water tariff for apartments is the highest and billing and disconnection procedure discriminatory, the CPI(M) has decided to take out a `walk for water' to the Municipal Commissioner's bungalow on Monday. The walk, with empty buckets, will commence at Rama Talkies Junction. Party district secretary Ch. Narsinga Rao, city secretary K. Lokanadham and district council member Ganga Rao told reporters here on Wednesday that connections of 468 defaulters, including commercial establishments, with dues dating back to 2001 were intact. But those belonging to middle class apartment residents were disconnected.

Mr. Narsinga Rao said even in disconnecting, the corporation had shown discrimination by targeting apartment residents while it spared the influential.

He alleged that water bills for Union Minister T. Subbarami Reddy's guesthouse totalling Rs. 64,000 had not been paid for 63 months. The arrears for Collector's guesthouse stood at Rs.1.26 lakhs, he charged.

When their connections remained, the GVMC had no moral right to disconnect those of others, he said. "At least, the norms for disconnection should be uniform," he said.

Mr. Narsinga Rao said the District Collector and the Municipal Commissioner went back on their promise of restoring supply if one-fourth of the arrears were paid. Besides a cheque for one-fourth of the arrears, a written commitment on payment of the remaining amount was being demanded. Once a commitment was made, there would be no review of the "hefty" bills against which the Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents' Welfare Association was protesting, he said. He assailed the policy of the GVMC making fixing of meters mandatory for providing water connections to apartments. Like in the other municipal corporations, they should be brought under domestic category from semi-bulk domestic category. The bill amount was 10 times the normal because of the categorisation. Mr. Lokanadham said that instead of trying to solve the issue, Commercial Taxes Minister Konathala Ramakrishna, who was approached by VARWA, was complicating it.

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