Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced the waiver of connection, infrastructure and development charges for individual sewer and water connections which would enable “lakhs of people” to save amounts ranging from “thousands to up to ₹1.25 lakh.”
Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat, Mr. Kejriwal said the Delhi government would bear the cost of all the infrastructural requirements such as laying of water pipelines. The move was intended to address the issue of city residents, who refrain from taking formal water connections because of high development charges, he added.
“ Residents resort to illegal means to connect to water pipelines but refrain from taking a formal water connection because of high charges,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“We had decreased the development charges for sewer connections to ₹100 per square meter from ₹500 per square meter, but the individual charges are still high...Therefore, the Delhi government has decided to waive off the infrastructural and development charges and will invest in developing the infrastructural requirements like installing pipelines, water treatment plants and pumping stations,” he said further.
For instance, the CM said, the owner of a 200 square meter plot has to spend ₹1,14,110 on a sewer or water connection. Similarly, residents of a 300 square meter plot has to spend Rs. 1,24,110 on a water and sewer connection.
He said the Delhi government would make “optimum utilisation of the taxes paid by the residents” to fulfil these infrastructural requirements. Now, a resident has to pay just ₹2,310, approximately, to install an individual water connection, he said and added that these charges will apply to all residents irrespective of their plot sizes.
