A section of residents in Thillai Nagar and a few other parts of the city are sore that they have been issued demand notices by the Corporation for arrears in underground drainage (UGD) service charges for up to 17 years.
Residents, who have failed to pay the charges since getting the house connections to the system, are being issued demand notices now.
Some of the residents in Thillai Nagar claim that they have not been paying the service charge all these years as the UGD in the old Thillai Nagar areas was not working properly.
“The drainage system was not working properly in our area all these years. Even at the slightest sign of rain, sewage from the drainage system backs up into old houses which are situated on a lower plain. All these years, we have not been getting demand notices for the UGD service charge. But now all of a sudden, I have been issued a demand notice for paying arrears of UGD service charge of ₹6120 for 17 years since 2000, apart from the demand of ₹360 of the charge for the current year,” said A.V.Narayanan, a resident of Fort Station Road in Thillai Nagar.
Mr.Narayanan said it was unfair on the part of the civic body to issue demand for arrears for 17 years. “It is bad in law and they could have limited the demand for arrears for three years or six half-yearly periods,” he said.
However, Corporation officials said the demand notices were being issued to residents from the date of providing the connection to the system. “Some residents in a few places have not been paying the charge and the cases have been omitted all these years. We are issuing demand notices now following audit objections,” said an officer.
Corporation Commissioner Mr. Ravichandran said residents were bound to pay service charge from the date of obtaining house connections to the sewer system.
“There have been cases where demands have not been raised and we have identified about 4000 such cases and are raising the demand now. It is also important that Corporation gets adequate revenue,” he said.
