Water bill may become mandatory for property registration in Delhi. The government wants to provide legal water connection to every house to increase revenue and prevent wastage of water.
Soon people in the national capital Delhi may have to show water bill while registering their house, plot and shop. The government is planning to make water bill mandatory in property registration to increase revenue and bring all properties under the billing system of the water board.
According to Delhi government officials, this proposal is currently under consideration and can be implemented soon. Currently, property registration requires stamp duty, sale deed, identity of buyer and seller, income certificate, electricity bill and two witnesses.
One of the government’s objectives behind making water bill mandatory in property registration is to improve the sewerage system in the city, especially in those unauthorized colonies where most of the houses have neither water line nor sewer connection.
A senior official said that without sewerage connection, dirty water is directly going into the Yamuna river and spreading pollution. Apart from this, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is also continuously losing revenue as thousands of houses are getting water supply through illegal water connections.
29 lakh valid water connections
According to a report by the Indian Express, Delhi has about 29 lakh legal water connections, while according to the 2011 census, there were 34 lakh houses at that time. Now this number has almost doubled. That is, at present a large number of houses are using water without a registered water connection. An official said that “Now the trend of independent floor system has increased in Delhi.
People build four floors on a plot and sell them floor-wise, but the families living on each floor do not take separate water connections nor pay water bills. Even while selling the property, the sellers do not share the water bill.” To improve this situation, a proposal has been sent to the Revenue Department to make water bill mandatory at the time of property registration.
Revision in water rates possible
The government is also considering revising water rates. According to officials, the current billing system has many flaws and a large number of consumers do not pay bills. The water charges were last revised in February 2018. Now preparations are underway to revise it again.
According to the Delhi Jal Board report, currently 50 to 52 percent of “non-revenue water”, that is, water that does not reach the customers even after production and supply, is being wasted. This situation is not only promoting water crisis, but is also affecting the government treasury.
