Whenever there is a hue and cry about erratic drinking water supply in the city, the councillors fathom the scenario; availability, legal connections and illegal supplies; besides, mounting arrears in the form of water cess.
If the data provided by Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) is any indication, the mounting arrears are set to grow bigger with every passing day throwing a bigger challenge for the authorities.
In all, water users comprising domestic, commercial and industries owe Rs 63.66 crore including the interest of Rs 25.02 crore (up to March 2012) from over one decade. A total of 13 government departments stand in the list of arrear holders owing a whopping Rs 13.86 crore.
Info from RTI
According to the information retrieved through Right to Information (RTI) Act by Prof P V Nanjaraj Urs, the rural development and panchayat raj department tops at Rs 8.30 crore, to be precise Rs 8,30,31,593 from six water connections, followed by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd., (KPTCL)- Rs 1.45 crore (five), education department- Rs 1.34 crore (33), railways- Rs 1.20 croren (eight), health and family welfare- Rs 45.65 lakh (six), PWD- Rs 34.30 lakh (11), medical education- Rs 28.49 lakh (four), police- Rs 25.90 lakh (11), Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Ltd.,- Rs 15.89 lakh (six), judicial employees- Rs 3.27 lakh (eight), horticulture- Rs 1.62 lakh (three), MUDA- Rs 1.09 lakh (three) and exhibition authority- Rs 19,846 (one).
Industries
Industries wise- general manager, M/s Kamsem Industries Ltd.,, No 99, KRS road, industrial area, Mysore owes highest of Rs 1.77 crore among the list of 97 industrial water connections, followed by Raviprasad, K J Electricals, No 44/47, KRS road, industrial area- Rs 38.34 lakh and Chamundi Machine, No 52, KRS road industrial area- Rs 22.47 lakh. Many owe in the range of Rs 2,601 to Rs 46,222, and Rs 1.49 lakh to Rs 5.16 lakh.
The city has a total of 1,45,635 connections, besides 29,586 illegal connections.
Executive engineer of VVWW Subramanya told Deccan Herald, the department has been pursuing with the issue every year.
Some of the departments do pay, but a part of it, still retaining the bigger part.
The matter has been taken up again and a drive will be launched with dedicated teams, once the new bills are generated complying with the revised rate of minimum Rs 125 for domestic consumers. Strangely, every government departments are allocated budget for maintenan ce. Yet, they take the privilege of buying time when it comes to paying for services availed from other departments.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks