PROTEST FOR WATER HIKE
WEST SIDE PLUS (TIMES OF INDIA - JUN 2002)
By Skimmy Gupta
The members of JVPD Tenants and Residents Association and residents of JVPD(Juhu Vile Parle Development ) Scheme are strongly protesting against the recent steep water hike in water charges in the city of Mumbai.Lately the Muncipal Corporation has hiked water prices in the city by 33.33% i.e from earlier Rs.3/- per 1000 litres to Rs.4/-per 1000 litres.The residents and public feel that these rates are unreasonable,exorbitant and discriminatory .
In a letter to the Muncipal Commissioner and the hydraulic Engineer of BMC submitted last week,the association have put forward their concerns and problems over this issue.Also they have suggested certain measures to be initiated by the Corporation which could effectively result in reduction of water charges and avoid the ever increasing charges again and again.The letter states that many Mumbaites waste water undiscrimanatory as water charges are shared by all occupants.Also this hike seems unjust as large family (who consume more water) and small family pay same amount of water charges i.e unequals are treated equally.It is a well known fact of water theft and water meter tampering is rampant by industrial users due to their huge consumption of water.To avoid such malpractices and loss of revenue,the billing and collection of charges should be handed over to public utilities like MTNL,BSES etc.Also the amount of pilferage,theft and wastage at the slums colonies is large.
The Association strongly feels these problems are compounded and can be solved if the Corporation makes it compulsory for every individual to install water meters resulting in augmentation of revenues substantially.Thus the BMC should publish statistics regarding water usage and revenue generated in respect of residential,industrial,slum dwellers as well as metered and non metered properties.
M.G Valia ,member of association and who was handling the water meters in collabaration with Germany offices says "An individual meter costs Rs.400/- to 700/-which is cheaper than electric meters.Thus this initial installation expenses will be soon nulified by saving of water as water usage will decrease by 30% .Saving money apart it will also lead to conservation of life giving resource.Today ,water tax on non metered buildings in the island city is a fraction of water charges paiid by surburban residents with metered properties.Thus there is not only loss of crores of revenue but also residents of metered properties are subsidising residents of non metered properties.Many island city residents save on electricity charges due to substantial water supply but surburban residents have to pay more and install water tanks,hydraulic pumps due to often erratic water supply and shortage.Thus this present systems seems arbitrary and discrimanatory.And thus the implementation of individual water meters in every household,industry etc is extremely essential."
Kantilal Jangbari,President , JVPD Tenants and Residents Association told West Side Plus "The recent water hike is highly unjustified.The water charges have increased by a large six times in past 6 years.In abroad there are individual water meters installed everywhere thus avoiding unnecessary confusion .Thus we should all come forward to implement and install water meters at every building.property with the help of Corporation.Many years back ,the corporation had declared to install individual water meters but even today thousands of buildings are without meters.We surely feel that with our suggested measures to BMC if diligently implemented will save water,increase BMC revenue by about 35% and lessen burden on surburban households to an extent."
-----------------------------------------------
By Skimmy Gupta
The members of JVPD Tenants and Residents Association and residents of JVPD(Juhu Vile Parle Development ) Scheme are strongly protesting against the recent steep water hike in water charges in the city of Mumbai.Lately the Muncipal Corporation has hiked water prices in the city by 33.33% i.e from earlier Rs.3/- per 1000 litres to Rs.4/-per 1000 litres.The residents and public feel that these rates are unreasonable,exorbitant and discriminatory .
In a letter to the Muncipal Commissioner and the hydraulic Engineer of BMC submitted last week,the association have put forward their concerns and problems over this issue.Also they have suggested certain measures to be initiated by the Corporation which could effectively result in reduction of water charges and avoid the ever increasing charges again and again.The letter states that many Mumbaites waste water undiscrimanatory as water charges are shared by all occupants.Also this hike seems unjust as large family (who consume more water) and small family pay same amount of water charges i.e unequals are treated equally.It is a well known fact of water theft and water meter tampering is rampant by industrial users due to their huge consumption of water.To avoid such malpractices and loss of revenue,the billing and collection of charges should be handed over to public utilities like MTNL,BSES etc.Also the amount of pilferage,theft and wastage at the slums colonies is large.
The Association strongly feels these problems are compounded and can be solved if the Corporation makes it compulsory for every individual to install water meters resulting in augmentation of revenues substantially.Thus the BMC should publish statistics regarding water usage and revenue generated in respect of residential,industrial,slum dwellers as well as metered and non metered properties.
M.G Valia ,member of association and who was handling the water meters in collabaration with Germany offices says "An individual meter costs Rs.400/- to 700/-which is cheaper than electric meters.Thus this initial installation expenses will be soon nulified by saving of water as water usage will decrease by 30% .Saving money apart it will also lead to conservation of life giving resource.Today ,water tax on non metered buildings in the island city is a fraction of water charges paiid by surburban residents with metered properties.Thus there is not only loss of crores of revenue but also residents of metered properties are subsidising residents of non metered properties.Many island city residents save on electricity charges due to substantial water supply but surburban residents have to pay more and install water tanks,hydraulic pumps due to often erratic water supply and shortage.Thus this present systems seems arbitrary and discrimanatory.And thus the implementation of individual water meters in every household,industry etc is extremely essential."
Kantilal Jangbari,President , JVPD Tenants and Residents Association told West Side Plus "The recent water hike is highly unjustified.The water charges have increased by a large six times in past 6 years.In abroad there are individual water meters installed everywhere thus avoiding unnecessary confusion .Thus we should all come forward to implement and install water meters at every building.property with the help of Corporation.Many years back ,the corporation had declared to install individual water meters but even today thousands of buildings are without meters.We surely feel that with our suggested measures to BMC if diligently implemented will save water,increase BMC revenue by about 35% and lessen burden on surburban households to an extent."
-----------------------------------------------
Labels: City
posted by Skimmy @ June 14, 2008
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home