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Water to cost more in six Rajasthan divisions

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government has decided to increase the monthly water supply charges by 25 to 40 per cent at six divisional headquarters from next month. The move was approved in the shape of “water infrastructure development surcharge” over the weekend.

The surcharge will be imposed in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Kota and Udaipur, where consumers using 15,000 to 40,000 litres of water a month will pay 25 per cent more. Those consuming over 40,000 litres of water will have to pay 40 per cent extra.

The decision to introduce the hike, likely to affect over 3-lakh consumers, has seemingly been taken at the instance of the Asian Development Bank which gave a Rs. 1,560-crore loan to the State Government for urban infrastructure development. The surcharge will be applicable to both domestic and commercial consumers.

According to official sources, an increase in the water rates was one of the stipulations of the loan agreement. The ADB had reportedly asked the State Government to implement the provision before releasing the loan amount for the second stage of development of over a dozen cities with a population of more than 1 lakh. A significant portion of the maintenance and running cost of the water infrastructure is to be shifted gradually to the consumers till 2011 under the provisions of the loan agreement. The opposition Congress has protested against the sudden imposition of surcharge on consumers without prior information.

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