Residents of the city woke up to a shock when the staff of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWS&DB) started delivering water bills with arrears for 19 months, thanks to audit objections pointing out at the outstanding arrears of Rs.7.90 crore in the Belagavi City Municipal Corporation area.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had taken serious note of the failure to collect huge arrears from water tariff in Belagavi city and other municipal areas of the State; the CAG report was tabled on the floor of the legislature on the first day of the ongoing monsoon session here on Monday.
Executive Engineer of KUWS&DB Prasanna Murthy told The Hindu here on Thursday that the audit objections had apparently put the officials under pressure to recover arrears at a time when the majority of the users were not inclined to pay a little more for drinking water.
He said as per the government order, water tariffs for different categories were revised from an yearly Rs.1,000 to Rs.2,100 and were required to be implemented from August 2011 itself. But, due to resistance by the residents of the city, it was delayed and the revised rates were collected from March 2013 onwards.
Now, due to audit objections, the Board was under pressure to recover the arrears amounting to Rs.7.90 crore for the period of 19 months in the city. Even the Council of Belagavi City Corporation adopted a resolution (No.38) on November 17, 2014, on collecting arrears, levying 1% cess on delayed payments and service charge of Rs.200 for all fresh water tap connections, Mr. Murthy said.
However, the board has decided to facilitate the residents to pay their arrears in five instalments and appealed to the water users to cooperate with the Board and pay at the earliest.
