At a time when the Coimbatore Corporation is facing flak for revising water deposit and collecting waste collection charges, it has embarked on its next move - to revise water user charges.
Based on a September 2009 resolution in the Corporation Council and a subsequent District Gazette notification in September 2013, the Corporation has invited suggestion/opinion from people to revise water charges.
The proposed charges, based on constructed area in sq.ft., would be in four slabs for domestic, non-domestic and industrial purposes. Residents who live in houses measuring less than 500 sq.ft. would have to pay a minimum of ₹150, those living in houses that are between 501 and 1,200 sq.ft. would have to pay ₹200, those living in houses measuring between 1,201 and 2,400 sq.ft. would have to pay ₹250 and those in houses over 2,400 sq.ft. would have to pay ₹300.
All the charges are payable monthly and for every additional 1,000 litres beyond 15,000 litres, the users would have to pay ₹10.
The Corporation had similar structures for the non-domestic and industrial connections too.
The proposed charges, if implemented, would mean that residents in Vilankurichi would pay nearly five times their current amount (for the proposed minimum of ₹150), residents in Kalapatti, Kavundampalayam, Thudiyalur, Chinnavedampatti, Saravanampatti and Vellakinaru would have to pay more than two times the current charges.
Similarly, residents in Veerakeralam, Vadavalli and Kurichi would have pay three times their current charges. And, residents in Kuniamuthur would have pay ₹50 a more. These proposed charges are illegal and illogical and if implemented now, would definitely be a wrong move, said consumer activist K. Kathirmathiyon.
The Corporation’s proposed charges were uniform for people across the 100 wards but the water supply was not. By the Corporation’s logic, it should supply the same quantity of water it supplied to a Race Course resident, to a resident in Vadavalli or Kurichi. But that was not the case, as it supplied water more frequently to the old city residents than to those in added areas.
Mr. Kathirmathiyon also wanted to know how would the Corporation measure the quantity of water beyond the 15,000 litres when it had not fixed meters.
N. Karthik, MLA, said that at a time when the Corporation had failed to deliver basic services - adequate water supply, regular evacuation of waste and proper street lighting, it had no moral authority to revise water charges. And, it should not do so at a time when there was no elected council.
Opposing the proposed revision, chairman of the then Kurichi Municipality N. Prabhakaran said how could the Corporation treat people in the old city and added areas on a par with the services were not at the same level. It was nothing but discrimination and the decision to revise charges should be dropped.
