Delhi Jal Board suspends 10 staff & terminates 20 outsourced workers

New Delhi: The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has suspended 10 employees and terminated 20 outsourced members from service, acting on complaints of alleged faulty meter reading, according to an official statement issued on Saturday.

An FIR will also be registered against them while a show cause notice has been issued to the outsourcing agency, it stated.

"It has come to our notice that some meter readers engaged through an outsourced agency have been found taking wrong readings of water meters of DJB consumers," Saturday's order read.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed DJB chairman and Water Minister Satyendar Jain to ensure full accountability and tighten vigilance, it stated.

According to the official communique, in view of the complaints, the Kejriwal government had announced that the water bill of a consumer cannot exceed 1.5 times the previous month.

It said the DJB will offer an explanation to the consumer in case the bill breached the stated threshold and the customer will be able to file a

complaint in case of any irregularity.

Satyendar Jain said, "This is a huge and revolutionary step taken by the Kejriwal government to eradicate corruption and solve the discrepancy existing in the current system. This will also help provide a smooth and transparent billing system for the people of Delhi".