Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal calls all-party meet on increased water bills today, AAP govt may come up with a one-time settlement scheme

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has summoned an all-party meeting today to discuss a one-time settlement scheme for the city's heightened water bills. The meeting is scheduled for 4 pm at the Chief Minister's residence.

The proposed scheme was announced by Kejriwal on June 14, 2023, to address the pending water bills of consumers in Delhi, a city with approximately 27.6 lakh consumers.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) states that 11.7 lakh consumers owe a total of Rs 5,737 crore in unpaid bills. "If we tried to fix all these bills and get into the reasons for the anomaly, then it would take us over 100 years to sort this out. So, it was not possible to do that. Therefore, we have come out with a one-time settlement scheme for such households," Kejriwal said. 

The bills have been divided into two categories-- one in which there are two 'okay readings', i.e., the metre reader has gone and read the bill twice at least and both parties acknowledge this. Another is the one in which there is either one or nil 'okay' reading, the CMO said. 

Effective from August 1, the scheme plans to waive off the pending water bills of 7 lakh consumers. The scheme has been approved by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and is expected to be implemented by August 1 after completion of some formalities.

The new bill generated after August 1 will be based on this scheme and consumers will have three months to pay off their bills. Addressing a presser, Kejriwal said: "We are announcing a major scheme for the residents of Delhi. I think that the people of Delhi have been waiting for this for several months now. The water bills of some residents have been accumulating for a while now."

Kejriwal further said that water bills of residents were accumulating because the meter reading for many households could not be undertaken due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added: "There were also some cases of people who were supposed to note down the water metre at the time, providing incorrect data as they could not physically carry out their duties. In some households, wrong bills were sent, and so on."

Failure to do so will result in the reversion to the old policy and the inability to benefit from the one-time settlement scheme. Kejriwal has acknowledged that incorrect meter readings and inefficiencies in the meter reading process have contributed to the issue, and the government is working on policies to rectify this.