Mumbai:
Following complaints from residents of close to 250 societies from the satellite city that they received waters bills as per commercial rates - which are higher than the residential charges - the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) swung into action by correcting the same.
These societies, which are spread across the city, house 85 percent residential and 15 percent commercial units, while each of them has common water connections. "Since the buildings have common water connections, along with the commercial units, the residents too would receive bills as per higher rates," NMMC Executive Engineer (Water Supply) Sanjay Desai said.
After receiving complaints, the department carried out inspections in these buildings. "We charge Rs 30 per 1000 liter from commercial unit owners, while for a household the rate is only Rs 4 for the same quantity of water. Following our inspections, we found out that 15 percent of the total water usages by the residents were charged as per commercial rates, leading to their complaints," Desai said.
The executive engineer has also appealed to other residents to approach the department, in case they too faced similar problems, so as to get proper bills.
Meanwhile, residents of these societies welcomed the prompt response from authorities in the water supply department. "After we put across our grievances to the officials from the water supply department, they immediately surveyed the society and took corrective measures. This has reduced our bills to good extent," a resident of one of the affected societies in sector 4, Sanpada said not wishing to be named.
A resident from an Airoli society said that it were the commercial units which engaged in most usage of water and hence, deserved higher bills. "But we too received higher bills, pinching our pockets. However, situation is different now and we are getting bills as per our usage only," she concluded.
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