Water Board hikes service charge
Hyderabad : Consumers would have to shell out more for drinking water as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has quietly increased the service charge by more than 200 per cent to net Rs 4 crore additional revenues every month. According to highly placed sources in the board, the managing director M Jagadeeshwar revised the service charge relating to water consumers by issuing a departmental order a few days ago and instructing the divisional managers to collect the bill amounts as per the new tariff. The service charge for consumers under slab Rs 150-300 was Rs 10 and it has now been revised to Rs 20.
Similarly, for consumers under slab Rs 150-300, the service charge has been hiked to Rs 40 from Rs 15 and for those in slab between Rs 600-800 it has been increased to Rs 60 from Rs 20.
Noticeably, the board has imposed heavy service charge on those consuming water under slabs more than Rs 600. In the other four slabs -- between Rs 600-800, Rs 800-1500, Rs 1501-2,500 and for above Rs 2,500, the charges were revised to Rs 60, Rs 80, Rs 100 and Rs 150 respectively.
Earlier, the board was collecting service charge of Rs 20, irrespective of the quantum of water use. The board has divided consumers into six slabs (blocks), depending on the water usage, irrespective of pipe size or consumer category of connection. The HMWSSB has around 8.5 lakh consumers, both domestic and commercial, accounting for Rs 95 crore revenues. This tariff is likely to be implemented from next month and would increase board’s monthly revenue of more Rs 4 crore.
