Mysuru: 1,300 residents pay water dues using one-time settlement scheme

MYSURU: Pending water bill dues is often cited as one of the primary reasons for the fiscal crisis that Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) seems to grapple with nigh perpetually. Eager to solve this problem, and help residents settle their dues without having to subject themselves to undue hassles, the civic agency launched, in July, a one-time settlement scheme, which allowed for those who had previously defaulted on payment to balance the books. The response to the scheme was overwhelmingly positive with 1,300 residents coming forward to clear their dues.
The scheme offered those who had defaulted on bills the incentive of keeping in abeyance interest on the pending amount for six months as long as the dues were paid in a single payment. Furthermore, MCC also decided against levying compound interest on the pending amount. The cumulative sum that the MCC was owed in pending water bills tallied Rs 220 crore - Rs 146 crore accounting for the pending dues, while Rs 74 crore accounted for the interest. Interestingly enough, domestic users and not commercial establishments, accounted for more than 70% of the dues - Rs 108 crore.
In all, MCC supplies water to 1.8 lakh units. Unfortunately, nearly 40,000 of these units are sourcing water from the supply network illegally, depriving MCC of the revenue it is due. Furthermore, faulty meters installed at homes and commercial establishments are eating into the civic agency's revenue.
Sources in the MCC said that, of the 270 million litres supplied by Vani Vilas Water Works to homes and commercial establishments across the 65 wards under the civic agency's jurisdiction, only 160 million litres were accounted for. "The reminder, that is 110 million litres, are being sourced without authorisation," a source said.
MCC commissioner G Lakshmikantha Reddy told TOI that the agency had been able to collect more than Rs 3 crore from more than 1,300 residents following the launch of the OTS scheme. The MCC commissioner said that a lot of effort had gone into raising awareness among the public about the OTS scheme. He said that money collected through such initiatives greatly eased the financial burden on the MCC, supplying it with funds required for development projects, which, ironically enough, are aimed at ensuring round-the-clock supply of drinking water to all localities.
Former mayor Sunanda Palanethra said that the MCC had written to the state government, seeking permission to waive interest on bills yet to be paid by the residents.
Corporator Arif Hussein said that MCC collected Rs 165 in tax each month from each unit for maintenance of the underground drain network, and upkeep of infrastructure.