As part of its efforts to put an end to distress calls of water shortage in the Capital’s power zone, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is planning to increase water tariff and install new meters in the Lutyen’s zone and areas surrounding it. The logic is simple: Consumers in New Delhi get it easy and so waste the resource. As a result of which there is a shortage of water.

According to NDMC officials, the water supply in the New Delhi area is extremely subsidised — approximately 35 paise per 1,000 litres. “A bottle of mineral water costs Rs 10. The system is quite lopsided, as a result of which they do not use their resources judiciously,” said an official. The tariff structure is even more lopsided for NDMC employees living in the area. “The tariff rate is Rs 2 per month, fixed back in 1977. It is ridiculous by present standards,” the official said.

Officials were, however, quick to add that the move is in line with a decision taken by the DJB in 1998 to increase water tariffs all over Delhi. While the new rates were notified in April 2005, the NDMC has yet to implement the new rates for domestic as well as non-domestic properties.

With the civic body set to introduce a new slab of tariff for non-domestic properties, users consuming more than 100 kilolitre of water will now have to shell out Rs 35 per kilolitre, as against the earlier Rs 16 per kilolitre. The civic body is all set to replace 139 water meters used by these “bulk” users within a month.

“We have to buy water from the Jal Board, which is later stored in our underground reservoirs. So we have to increase the rates as per the tariff set up by the Jal board,” said NDMC spokesperson Anand Tiwari.

“Many of our meters are faulty, as a result of which even billing is not up to the mark. So we have to begin with replacing faulty meters,” Tiwari said. As per figures provided by the NDMC, 70 per cent of the 27,944 water connections provided by the water department are not functional.