The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed a hike in water charge for households using more than the national standard of 150 liters per capita.
The Standing Committee on Thursday rejected the proposal for the hike during the pandemic and sent it back to the administration to consider it again.
According to Mid-day.com, if the proposal is sanctioned and implemented, the water price would double for those consuming 150-200 liters per capita, while for those using beyond that would see about a 50% rise in the charge.
The proposal for increasing water charges was recorded by the committee to warrant the need for more water usage in households during the Covid-19 outbreak, as people required to wash hands more often, and rinse other items purchased from outside.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) supplies 750 liters of water to each home daily, applying the criteria of 135 liters per person a day and five people per household.
A BMC official said, “The water use has been constantly increasing beyond 150 liters per capita and the gap between production cost and charges are also increasing. As per the records, around 40,000 water connections use less than 150 liters and over 53,000 use more than that.”
The official said the BMC would earn around Rs 250- Rs 300 crore if the proposal is implemented. In the Standing Committee meeting on Thursday, BJP group leader Prabhakar Shinde raised the matter and opposed the hike.
The committee on Thursday also referred back proposals related to Covid-19 expenditure done by the administration so far, that had been tabled before the committee for post-facto approval. The committee noted that the proposals lacked details about how and where the money had been spent. Meanwhile, over 100 other proposals related to infrastructure work of roads, storm water drains, gardens, and other civic departments were cleared by the committee.
