Delhiites will not have to pay more for water till a new government takes over in the Capital. The city’s water utility has deferred the annual tariff hike till its next meeting.
At a meeting of the Delhi Jal Board on Friday, members took the decision to put off the 10 per cent hike in rates that was supposed to take effect from January 1, 2015.
A DJB statement said: “The board decided that the effective date of implementation of the annual increase of 10 per cent in the water tariff be deferred to the next board meeting.”
However, the hike is unlikely to go through before the Delhi Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in February.
“We have deferred the hike till the next meeting, but we won’t let rates go up till an elected government can take a decision,” said DJB member and Leader of the House in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mira Aggarwal.
She added that the BJP members in the Board would demand that the automatic annual hike be scrapped. Since 2009 the tariffs have been going up automatically on January 1, with the exception of last year. In 2013, an election year, former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit deferred the hike.
When the Aam Aadmi Party Government took over, it allowed the rates to go up in January 2014, but also gave 20 kilolitres of free water per month to those with metered connections.
The current water tariffs for domestic users range between Rs.2.66 per kilolitre and Rs.33.28 per kilolitre depending on monthly consumption.
The fixed service charge ranges from Rs.66.55 for households consuming less than 10 kilolitres a month to Rs.266. 20 for those whose monthly consumption is more than 30 kilolitres.
