Free Water: In a major relief to urban consumers, the Haryana government has announced that residential homes with land up to 500 yards will receive 10,000 liters (10 kiloliters) of drinking water per month free of charge. Until now, residents were charged one rupee per kiloliter for water.
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Free Water: In a major relief to urban consumers, the Haryana government has announced that residential homes with land up to 500 yards will receive 10,000 liters (10 kiloliters) of drinking water per month free of charge. Until now, residents were charged one rupee per kiloliter for water.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini made this announcement while presenting this year’s budget in the Assembly on Monday, which will be implemented by the Urban Local Bodies Department from the new financial year. More than 300,000 homeowners in Gurugram are expected to benefit from this scheme. However, to take advantage of the scheme, it will be mandatory to install water meters in homes. Without meters, free water will not be available.
The goal is to prevent water wastage.
Only 92,000 homeowners in the Gurugram Municipal Corporation have installed water meters in their homes. To prevent water wastage, the government announced this scheme to install meters in homes. Municipal officials believe that the implementation of mandatory water meters along with the free water scheme will curb illegal connections.
Over 150,000 Illegal Connections in the Municipal Area
The drinking water situation in Gurugram also remains worrisome. According to the latest Municipal Corporation survey, over 150,000 illegal drinking water connections are operating in the city, which are not registered in the corporation’s official records. These connections are leading to widespread water theft, directly impacting the corporation’s financial situation and the city’s limited water resources. According to municipal data, there are a total of 191,143 legal drinking water connections in the city, but most of these are operating without meters. Due to the lack of metering, actual consumption cannot be accurately assessed and bills are not being fully collected.
Consumers still owe ₹120 crore
The situation is that the Municipal Corporation issues water bills worth approximately ₹140 crore every year, but recoveries are limited to just ₹50 crore. Defaulting consumers have outstanding dues of over ₹120 crore. Meanwhile, there are 709,102 property IDs registered in the municipal area. When these were matched with water connections, it was found that approximately 150,000 properties are using water, but the corporation is not receiving any revenue.
