Chandigarh, May 24

The UT Administration has decided to hold back the hike in the water tariff till March next year.

A senior official said the decision was taken keeping in view the Covid-19 conditions. However, a detailed order in this regard is awaited.

In September last year, the UT Administration had notified an increase between 50 per cent and 200 per cent depending upon the category of user and water consumption level.

After facing criticism from the Opposition, the MC General House passed a resolution in October last year, with request to the Administration to withdraw the notification and levy the existing charges till the pandemic was over.

The MC collects Rs90 crore per annum as water charges, but spends Rs225 crore on maintaining water supply to nearly 1.8 lakh consumers. With a hike in water tariff, the MC was expecting to earn Rs60 crore.

“The decision of the Administration to keep on hold the hike in water tariff till March 2022 is a victory of the people of Chandigarh,” said HS Lucky, a spokesperson for the Congress. The Congress has been constantly raising this issue and has been agitating for the past three months for the complete rollback of water tariff, he said. Asked why it was being held back till March 2022, he said it might be because of the MC poll in December this year.

Devinder Singh Babla, Leader of the Opposition, MC, thanked UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore for giving a breather to the residents. “In the last MC meeting, Congress councillors had objected to this agenda tabled by the BJP and we had to stage a walkout to drive home our point. This hike would have caused a burden on the public, which is already reeling under the impact of the Covid wave,” he said. — TNS