Consumers owe Jal Board Rs 1.42 lakh cr in pending water bills, Delhi Police top defaulter

Indian Express

20 hours ago

The residents of Delhi owe the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Rs 1.42 lakh crore in pending water bills, officials have said. Of this, domestic consumers only owe the board Rs 15,000 crore, or 10.5% of the total amount.
Officials said that consumers in the commercial category owe the DJB Rs 66,000 crore, followed by government departments, whose unpaid bills stand at Rs 61,000 crore, while domestic consumers owe the board Rs 15,000 crore.
In the government category, officials said, Delhi Police tops the list of defaulters, followed by Delhi and Central government departments. At present, there are around 26.5 lakh consumers in 41 zones of DJB, said officials.
The government is already working on a one-time scheme to waive the late payment surcharge (LPSC) of water bills of consumers falling under domestic and government categories.
'Work on the plan is currently going on. The plan will be ready in the next one-and-a-half months… by September. The government will waive LPSC charges. People will only have to pay the principal amount… the modalities for the same are being prepared,' Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said.
According to officials, the pending bills have been adding up over the last 10 years.
'There are about 29 lakh water connections in Delhi, which is very less as compared to the city's population. The problem is that 70%-80% of the consumers claim that they have received inflated bills. Many also complain about irregular readings… To at least get the basic principal amount from domestic consumers, which stands at Rs 5,600 crore to Rs 6,000 crore, the government is planning to bring the waiver scheme,' said an official.
Also, to avoid metering issues in the future, the government is planning to revamp the billing system and implement smart meters to collect water bills in Delhi, officials said.
Officials further said that the government plans to do away with the scheme to provide 20,000 liters of free water per month to every household with a functional water meter. 'The scheme was brought by the previous AAP government. The BJP government is planning to make this scheme exclusive to people from the economically weaker sections, who genuinely require free water,' the official said.
Officials further said the BJP government plans to revise water tariffs in Delhi.