Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has issued notices to nearly 8,000 defaulters of water bills to collect dues, which are to the tune of Rs.10 crore.
There were about 15,000 official water connections in over 300 residential colonies as per the Cantonment records and a four-member team went through the bill books since 2001 to unearth the defaulters.
It also helped the officials to get an idea of the extent of illegal connections. Once the scrutiny of bill books was completed by next month, 10 to 15 special teams would be formed to visit each residential colony and check all the legal connections and detect the illegal connections besides, collecting bill amount dues, said an official.
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Official apathy
“Part of the blame lies with the administration too as bills were not sent regularly and amount collection too was neglected citing manpower shortage leading to cumulative dues of about Rs.10 crore,” he said.
The SCB requires about 60 lakh gallons of water a day, but the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) is able to supply only 40 lakh gallons only.
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Illegal connections
Apart from the water supply shortage, illegal drawing of water from the illegal water connections has been adding to the woes of the consumers.
An official claimed that several households with illegal connections had voluntarily come forward for regularising their respective connections by paying Rs.10,000 penalty.
Such was the impact of the notices that the monthly bill collections have increased to Rs.30 lakh against the Rs.2 lakh previously, he said.
Warning
He also warned that legal action would be taken against the consumers, who failed to respond to the notice issued by the Water Board.