KWA writes off Rs 167cr water bill arrears of Kochi corporation
Kochi: In a major relief to Kochi corporation, KWA has decided to write off water bill arrears of local body, which amounts to around Rs 167 crore. Corporation's water bills, mainly those for public water taps, were pending since 2011.
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The decision was made during a meeting between corporation authorities and KWA officials in May. Govt had already cut Rs 45 crore from general purpose grant and non-road maintenance allotment to corporation to adjust water bill arrears of civic body. Moreover, KWA was required to deposit around Rs 60 lakh for carrying out various works, but the authority didn't pay it to corporation. It was without deducting these amounts that KWA put the bills, including arrears, at Rs 167 crore.
All these issues were discussed during the meeting.
KWA was charging bills for 5,445 public water taps in the city. At the same time, there is a dispute over the manner in which KWA is calculating water bills. "In the past few years, actual number of public water taps in the city has come down as more households are using individual water connections and need for public water taps has decreased. Still, KWA calculated bills based on the old number.
The authority lacks proof to substantiate their claim that there are 5,445 in the city.
All these issues were brought to the attention of KWA. This might be the reason for KWA writing off water bill arrears till March 31, 2025," said corporation UDF parliamentary party secretary M G Aristotle.
A couple of years ago, KWA and corporation conducted a joint inspection to identify actual number of public water taps in the city. It was then found that number of public water taps in the city had dipped by more than 50%.
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