In an attempt to ease the financial burden on city residents seeking new water connections, the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation has decided to collect the deposit payable by them in instalments.
The decision was approved at the Corporation Council meeting held here on Thursday. The move comes in the wake of the civic body’s decision to provide about 25,000 new drinking water house connections initially under the Rs. 221.42 crore drinking water augmentation scheme executed with financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
About one lakh new house connections could be provided under the new scheme, which has its source at the Coleroon river. The scheme was mainly intended to ensure equitable distribution of water supply in all parts of the city.
Thirty-seven new overhead tanks have been built under the new scheme to ensure equitable distribution to all parts of the city. Pumping mains for a distance of 79 km and distribution mains for 355 km have been laid under the scheme.
The corporation has now decided to conduct a drive from September 1 to November 30 when special camps would be organised across the city to collect applications for new drinking water connections from residents. The civic body has decided to relax the rule (as stipulated in its by-law) for payment of deposits for new connections and collect the amount in instalments.
Accordingly, residents submitting their applications at the camps would be required to make an initial payment of Rs.2,000 towards the deposit amount and pay the remaining Rs.4,000 in instalments every half-year.
The instalment scheme will be implemented under two categories of households in the city. For houses with plinth area of 501 to 1,000 square feet, the instalment amount will be Rs.500 payable over eight half-yearly periods.
For houses with plinth area of 1,001 to 2,000 square feet, the instalment amount will be Rs.1,000 payable over four half-yearly periods.
The civic body hopes to mop up at least Rs. 5 crore through the initiative (by way of initial down payments of applicants) and use the money for debt servicing. Providing the new connections would also help increase drinking water tax demand by Rs.40 lakhs a month, according to an official resolution approved by the council.
