A total of 69,000 water connections which were disconnected are being audited as they are being used illegally to water both residential apartments and commercial establishments.
In a meeting with his directors, Managing Director of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) M. Dana Kishore has ordered a probe into illegal use of the corporation’s water supply. Meaning, each of the disconnected water connections will be reviewed to check for illegal use. The connections were cut due to non-payment of bills which ranged over ₹50,000. “Some water connections ranged between ₹50,000 and ₹ 2 lakh. The defaulters will have to pay the bills if they want the connections to be restored,” said Vijay Kumar Reddy, Water Board’s director of revenue. Mr. Reddy said that more than residential defaulters, commercial defaulters also go undetected.
The water connections are illegally restored by pumping water into the unused pipelines.
The anomalies in billing were found after the Water Board changed the billing cycle at the end of 2017. As the number of water connections that each billing agent has to review got reduced considerably, the board was able to detect unbilled connections which are currently under investigation for drawing water illegally.
Defaulters to be fined
Those who tamper with the water supply network of the board will face penal action, the board authorities said. While the defaulters’ water connections will be cut immediately, those who tampered with the connections can also be charged under criminal offence in some cases. “If they were using water for commercial activity the board can press the charges,” Mr. Reddy explained.