Mangaluru waives off penalty on water bills

Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) Mayor Premananda Shetty said that the penalty imposed on the water bills being issued to the consumers will be waived off.

MCC had been receiving complaints on excessive billing for water supplied to households. Loopholes in the water billing software had resulted in the generation of faulty bills, the Mayor said in a meeting.

A new software will be developed to solve the problem. The penalty shown in bills issued will be waived off, the Mayor said. The city corporation’s by-law allows for a provision to impose a penalty.

If a consumer does not repair the meter of their water connections, their billing would be twice the average amount. The MCC had been receiving many complaints from people regarding bills with huge penalties.

“We have already reversed this penalty clause at a council meeting recently. But the software could not be updated. As the water supply billing software has technical glitches, we have decided to develop a new software through Diya Systems. Hence, consumers need not pay the penalty for the bills already issued to them,” Shetty said.

The engineering section has been directed to provide complete details of bills issued to consumers with excessive penalties imposed on them. The new software will set right this anomaly, he added.