Mumbaikars using extra water? BMC wants to double your water charge

The BMC has proposed a hike in water charge for households using more than the national standard of 150 litres per capita The Standing Committee on Thursday rejected the proposal for the hike during the pandemic and sent it back to the administration to consider it againIf the proposal is sanctioned and implemented the water price would double for those consuming 150200 litres per capita while for those using beyond that would see about a 50 per cent rise in the charge750 litres per householdThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC supplies 750 litres of water to each home daily applying the criteria of 135 litres per person a day and five people per householdThe water production cost Rs 1944 per 1000 litres and the BMC charges Rs 522 per 1000 litres To minimise excessive use of water and to bridge the productionsupply cost gap the BMC in 2008 adopted a policy of Telescopic Rate StructureUnder which customers pay Rs 522 per 1000 litres up to 750 litres of water per day per house Rs 1044 for 150 to 200 litres consumption per capita and Rs 1566 for use of 200 to 250 litres per capitaThe proposed hike will also apply to buildings that dont have occupation certificates They currently pay Rs 1045 per 1000 litres up to 150 litres and Rs 2090 per 1000 litres for further uses and that would double to Rs 4180 under the proposed hike Of the approximate 6600 connections 2550 use more water than the national standardsA BMC official said The water use has been constantly increasing beyond 150 litres per capita and the gap between production cost and charges are also increasing As per the records around 40000 water connections use less than 150 litres and over 53000 use more than thatThose within the 150 litres per capita bracket together use about 149 million litres of water every day while those using above the national standards use about 277 million litres of water dailyThe official said the BMC would earn around Rs 250 Rs 300 crore if the proposal is implemented In the Standing Committee meeting on Thursday BJP group leader Prabhakar Shinde raised the matter and opposed the hikeRavi Raja leader of the opposition demanded to record the proposal which was sent back to the administration to reconsiderAlso ReadMumbai Pay fine or sweep roads if not wearing mask says BMCAudit to affect water supply in Bandra KharThe BMC has proposed to conduct a structural audit of Pali Hill Reservoir on November 3 and 4 The work will lead to lowpressure water supply to Pali Village New Kantwadi Sherly Rajan and Pali Pumping Zone Hanuman Nagar Laxmi Nagar Pyari Nagar Union Park and Carter Road Chuim Village Khar Danda The civic body has appealed to the public to store sufficient water to avoid any issuesKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news