The Hindu : Alandur municipality to pay hike in water tariff

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Alandur municipality to pay hike in water tariff

By K. Manikandan

CHENNAI MARCH 22. The Alandur municipality has agreed to pay the hike in water tariff to Metrowater, even as it assured that residents will not be made to pay for the hike. When the issue of last month's revision of charges by Metrowater from Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 for every thousand litres of water came up for discussion during the Council meeting on Friday, there were conflicting opinions among members.

They wondered if Metrowater would heed to their request of reducing the hike. Some others said the municipality should not accept the hike and study alternate sources of water instead, while a few said the municipality should not mind the hike and pay Metrowater immediately. The Chairman, R. S. Bharathi, clarified that the Government hike was not targeted only at their municipality.

The members felt that the residents should not be made to bear the brunt and that the monthly water charges should not be hiked under any circumstances. The Chairman ruled out an increase in the monthly water charges from Rs. 50 and added the civic body would pay the revised charges with an assurance from Metrowater that it would assure its continued supply of 50 lakh litres of water daily to it. "We will manage", he replied when asked how they planned to tackle the tariff hike.

The councillors also wanted to know the status of the work pertaining to sinking of borewells in each of the 42 wards, taken up last year. Mr. Bharathi replied that there was very little progress as Agrofed, a government undertaking that had been awarded the contract, had been wound up. He proposed that fresh tenders be called for.

The members argued that calling for tenders and sanctioning of work orders would take another four months. "By that time, the worst part of summer would be over. We should ensure that we tap additional sources of water at the earliest", they said. Following suggestions, it was decided to urge the TANSI to finish the remaining work.Meanwhile, members objected to officials selecting roads for executing repair works in areas where underground sewer lines had been laid. Supported by the Chairman, they said only those streets identified by them should be taken up.

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