: Nearly 15,000 consumers settled their dues and 11,000 others applied for regularisation of their illegal water connections under the One Time Settlement (OTS) and the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS) programmes offered by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSB) until March 31.
A senior HMWSSB official said the OTS scheme drew in additional revenue between Rs.24 crore to Rs.25 crore, which included settlement from the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), which paid the water board about Rs.6 crore. “The OTS payments also included an amount of Rs.40 lakh paid by the South Central Railway (SCR), and like it, many others too approached us to clear off their bills,” he said.
Of the 11,000 applications received under the VDS scheme, 3,000 were currently being checked for feasibility, while the others would be done in the days to come, he said.
The official, however, pointed out that the schemes did not receive as many applications as were expected, since the Model Code of Conduct is in place. The HMWSSB had earlier written to the Election Commission (EC) seeking exemption, so that they could conduct campaigns for the two programmes, but could not get a nod .
“We were expecting at least another 20,000 applications under the VDS scheme, from different areas. We were not even able to campaign in slum areas, or else the response would have been much greater,” said the official. He added that HMWSSB will soon prepare a list of people who have not paid their bills due to disputes with the water board.