In major relief to lakhs of residents of Delhi, water minister Parvesh Sahib Singh announced on Friday that the Delhi government will waive late payment surcharge on pending domestic water bills. He, however, made it clear that this would be the first and the last late payment surcharge waiver by the BJP government.
Parvesh Sahib Singh said, "Delhi government to waive late payment surcharge on pending domestic water bills in a big relief to lakhs of residents in the city. Delhi has around 29 lakh registered consumers and the scheme will start from next month."
"This will be the first and the last LPSC waiver scheme of this government. Decision on waiver of late payment surcharge for commercial connections yet to be taken," he said.
"People were receiving water bills worth lakhs of rupees. The reason was that the interest rate on each billing cycle was 5%. Some billing cycles are monthly and some are bi-monthly. The monthly cycle had 5% compound interest system. We have reduced that interest rate to 2%," he informed.
Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) announced that on September 30 it will inaugurate the upgraded Coronation Pillar sewage treatment plants — phase one and two — which will be among the major projects directly related to the cleaning of the Yamuna river.
Coronation Pillar STP: Details
The project constructed at a cost of Rs 230 crores, fully funded by the Delhi government, has a total capacity of 20 million gallons per day (MGD).
It will benefit around six lakh residents living in Shakti Nagar, Roop Nagar, Kamala Nagar, Malkaganj, Delhi University, Kingsway Camp, GTB Nagar and nearby areas.
"The upgradation work of the sewage treatment plant was concluded in May this year, after which it was put on a trial run. Now it is one of the projects which will be inaugurated among other projects," a DJB official told PTI.
The board has in the past been pulled up by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) for not adhering to the treated water discharge standards set by the government, as ultimately this water will end up going into the river.
According to officials, after the upgrade work, the sewage treatment plants (STPs) will be able to discharge treated water as per the parameter standards set by the government and increase the treatment capacity as well.
Currently the DJB has 37 STPs of which 18 are under upgradation projects to increase the overall treatment capacity of sewage in the city.
This work will increase the sewage treatment capacity up to 800 MGD and close the gap in the generation and treatment of sewage in the city, officials added.
The current generation of sewage is around 700 MGD, and to stop untreated sewage from entering the river, in the first budget of the new BJP government, the water and sewerage sector has been given one of the biggest shares of Rs 9,000 crore.
Additionally, the DJB is also constructing three new STPs, one at Okhla which will have a treatment capacity of 124 MGD. It will be commissioned on September 30 by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
(With PTI inputs)
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