‘AAP govt to offer one-time settlement for faulty water bills’

New Delhi: Delhi Finance Minister Atishi announced on Friday that the AAP government will introduce a one-time settlement scheme to rectify erroneous water bills, aiming to unlock revenue amounting to Rs 1,400 crore for the DJB.

During a press conference, Atishi addressed the significant problem of faulty water bills, noting that citizens have raised concerns about it, even during public events attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“There are many reasons for the issue. It could be that the meter reader did not go for meter reading or he could not get the correct reading. It could be that one building has 12 flats and he could not gauge which meter is for which flat,” she said.

She also highlighted that meter readings were not taken during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Now, around 40 per cent consumers have not been paying their bills. This is also impacting revenue of the DJB. The one-time settlement scheme is expected to earn a revenue of around Rs 1,400 crore to DJB. For availing the scheme, each consumer would require a functional meter. The scheme has been passed by the Delhi Jal Board in its board meeting,” she said.

Later in a statement, the government said that the scheme will unlock a revenue of Rs 2500 crore. Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has directed that this scheme should be presented before the Cabinet for approval soon.

“It is expected to bring the scheme before the Cabinet within 10 days. After Cabinet approval, consumers will get recasted bills from the next billing cycle and they will get four months to pay their dues,” she said.

Under the scheme, faulty water bills of consumers will be re-casted as per median reading of the past years. Bills will be re-casted on the basis of two “OK readings” in the previous one year. For those consumers who are unable to produce two “OK readings” in the past year, reading will be calculated on the basis of the last five years.

If the problem of faulty meters or bills exceeds five years then the bill will be re-casted on the basis of consumption pattern of the neighborhood of the consumer.

In the last two days, the problem of faulty water bills was raised at two events where Kejriwal was present. He had assured people that the government was working to address the issue and come up with a scheme to settle the bills.