666 litres of free water every day to each household
Delhi Jal Board CEO Vijay Kumar along with AAP leader Kumar Viswas
addressing a press conference outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s
residence in Kaushambi, Ghaziabad on Monday.– PHOTO: Special Arrangement
After ending the VIP culture in the capital, the Arvind
Kejriwal-led Delhi government on Monday fulfilled another big promise,
announcing 666 litres of free water every day to each household with
functional water meters. It amounts to 34 buckets of water per family of
five every day.
The announcement was made by the
newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Jal Board, Vijay
Kumar, at a press conference in front of Mr. Kejriwal’s residence at
Kaushambi in Ghazaibad.
Mr. Vijay Kumar later told
reporters: “All domestic consumers having metered connection will get 20
kilolitres of water a month free of cost, starting January 1. We will
not even levy any existing charges, such as water cess and sewerage
charge. But, if the consumption limit crosses 20 kilolitres, the
consumer will have to pay for the total water and other charges.”
At
present, consumers pay Rs. 200 for 20 kilolitre a month. Defending the
big decision, Mr. Kejriwal tweeted immediately after the announcement
was made: “It is the duty of any responsible government to provide
‘lifeline water’ to its citizens. We may debate the quantum but can we
argue against the principle?” The Chief Minister alsoclarified that the
free water scheme was not for three months as reported by a section of
media. “It is wrongly being said that our decision is for 3 months.
Decision is for good. But obviously financial calculations are for the
remaining period of the current financial year…” which will end of March
31,” he further tweeted.He also explained that the DJB would suffer a
revenue loss of only Rs. 160 crore a year and just Rs. 40 crore for the
remaining part of the year.
However, the freebie has
come with a spike in water tariff by 10 per cent for consumption above
666 litres. The hike is expected to enable the DJB to generate the extra
revenue at the cost of rich consumers, said a DJB official. According
to government statistics, 30 per cent of Delhi population lives in urban
villages and unauthorised colonies and these localities – which house
poor sections -- have no official water connection. The city has about
14,000 km of water pipeline network and only 68 per cent of the
households have piped water connection. About 25per cent of the city
area remains uncovered by pipelined supply.
The
latest CAG report observes that there remains inequality in distribution
and supply. The per capita availability of water varies from 29 litre
per capita daily (LPCD) in outskirts to as high as 509 LPCD in posh
areas.
According to the report “the Delhi Jal Board
has neither a proper system to measure the water supply to different
areas nor does it have access to reliable data on population in
different areas. It, therefore, cannot ensure equitable supply of
water.”
In its election manifesto, the Aam Admi Party
had promised to provide 700 litres of free water will be supplied daily
to each household if it comes to power.
The report
also highlighted that 24.8 per cent of the households in Delhi were
being supplied water through tankers in the absence of pipe lines where
the average per capita supply was 3.82 litres per day against a
prescribed norm of 172
litres. Metering of water at
consumer end was not comprehensive due to which, less than 40 per cent
of water produced was billed during last three years
It
further stated that the raw water available in Delhi at present is not
sufficient to provide potable water to the whole population of Delhi as
per prescribed norms. According to the Delhi Human Development
Report-2013, the total water supply from all sources to the city in 2010
was around 845 MGD (million gallons water per day), including 745 MGD
of surface water and 100 MGD of ground water. The total requirement in
2010 was 1080. Delhi has no water of its own and receives the supplies
from Haryana and Punjab.
DJB sources said in the
population living outside the network of water supply the board will
press tankers for supply. But the freebee may end up not changing the
scenario as a large number of them are yet to have DJB laid pipe
network.
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