Waivers, one-time settlement for unpaid water bills in Capital

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that the Delhi government will soon introduce a one-time settlement scheme for pending water bills of around 1.17 million consumers, including around 700,000 consumers whose arrears are likely to be completely waived off.

- Paras Singh

The scheme is based on the premise that the bills issued to most of these consumers were faulty, largely due to the physical meter readings not being taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the bills will be recast on the basis of computerised normal consumption of water.

Kejriwal said that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), in a meeting on Tuesday, cleared the scheme, and added that it will now be taken up by the state cabinet. The scheme will be operational for three months starting August 1, during which consumers will have the option to either pay the revised arrears, or the water utility will ask for its current bill.

At present, 1.17 million water customers have pending bills, cumulatively amounting to ₹5,737 crore. The Delhi government did not specify how much of this money will be collected according to its estimates. It was not immediately clear how DJB will make up for the losses of revenue, and what the financial implications of the proposed write-off will be.

Speaking at a press conference at the Delhi secretariat, Kejriwal said, “Bills have accumulated due to various reasons. The biggest reason is that physical meter readings could not be taken during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many meter readers filed faulty readings, and people received faulty bills which have not been paid as people believe these are not correct bills.”

The Delhi government in 2013 launched a flagship scheme under which consumers were provided 20 kilolitres (kl) water per month free of cost. Consumers are only charged if the monthly consumption exceeds the 20kl-mark.

According to Kejriwal, of the 1.17 million consumers whose bills are pending, 700,000 consume less than 20kl water a month.