State departments’ water arrears mount to ` 971cr

Government departments have not paid the Metro Water and Sewerage Board a total of `971 crore. The Panchayat Raj department owes `370 crore, rural water supplies `210 crore.

Besides, 100 public sector undertakings including BHEL, ECIL, IDPL, HMT, HAL and NFC owe the board `120 crore.

Water Board said the government was forcing them to collect arrears from the domestic sector but was ignoring the nearly `1,100 crore owed by government organisations. The government is considering the board’s request to adjust the dues towards electricity charges.

According to highly placed sources, the Water Board on average collects `88 crore every month from 9.35 lakh domestic and commercial connections. It is carrying forward at least `200 crore as pending arrears for every financial year, which includes `115 crore from commercial connections.

Sources said during several review meetings the government had the board to collect the arrears and not depend on any other department for salaries and other expenses.

Sources said that even if the board regularised all illegal connections, the amount realised would not be 10 per cent to the arrears of government departments.

Adding to the Board’s woes, the government in October 2015 waived arrears worth `850 crore for residents living in 1,131 slums as part of poll promise during the GHMC elections.

A senior water board official said board had more than 2,000 defaulters including government wings and public sector undertakings. The board gets monthly power bills in the range of `50 crore to `60 crore against its monthly income of `88 crore.

He said electricity bills had reached an all-time high of `85 crore due to use of emergency pumps to supply water from about 200 km.

The government has refused to adjust the electricity charges against bills pending with the government departments.