The Hindu : New Delhi News : Finance department to help recover huge water bills

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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New Delhi

Finance department to help recover huge water bills

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Decision follows Jal Board’s failure to recover dues from government departments like MCD, NDMC

Direct payment of an amount based on past consumption to Jal Board or any utility suggested
“This will cut down on unnecessary paper work; save the trouble of issuing reminders”

NEW DELHI: Recovering dues from ordinary consumers may be easy, but when it comes to Government departments the process of recovering pending charges becomes an exercise in endurance.

Unable to get various government departments like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Council to agree to outstanding dues and pay up, the Delhi Jal Board has asked the Finance Department to step in and sort out matters.

“We have suggested to the Finance Department that there should be a mechanism whereby based on past consumption an average amount is arrived at which can be paid directly to the Jal Board or any other utility at the time of transferring of funds,” said Delhi Jal Board Chief Executive Officer Arun Mathur.

Proposal forwarded

The proposal that has already been forwarded to the Finance Department and the Accountant-General (Audit) Delhi has cited the example of the power companies that are given dues payable by the Delhi Jal Board from the loans disbursed to it.

“If the dues that are payable are deducted at the time of allocation of funds to various departments, it will help in cutting down on unnecessary paper work and save the departments the trouble of having to constantly issue reminders for collection of dues,” explained Mr. Mathur.

Sources in the Finance Department said the proposal has been seconded by the Accountant-General who has in turn asked the department to make “appropriate budget provisions for payment of water dues to the Jal Board and the amounts cleared”.

According to the Delhi Jal Board, the MCD institutions owe the water utility Rs.92,80,14,512 in arrears as water charges, while the Jhuggi-Jhonpri and Slums Department of the MCD owes Rs.5,46,11,733 in arrears.

‘Various excuses’

“As on March 31, 2007, the NDMC has Rs.2145.44 as pending dues, of which Rs. 1487.52 lakh is the share of water cost and Rs.657.92 lakh sewer charges. Whenever we bring this up, the departments come up with various excuses,” said Mr. Mathur.

Referring to the longstanding tussle over pending dues with the MCD, the CEO said: “We have been trying to settle the issue. We have drawn up details of charges for consumption of water for various purposes including horticulture and for toilets and sanitation, which the MCD has raised objections to.

“Also, the MCD has levied property tax on 1,400 tube-wells that the Delhi Jal Board owns. Despite our requests for rectification in the list of properties attached to the Jal Board, the MCD is yet to do so.”

The water utility is now banking on the Finance Department to give a go-ahead to its proposal so that collection of dues is amicably settled.

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