Haryana To Waive Penalty, Interest On Pending Water Bills: Chief Minister

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday announced penalty and interest waivers on outstanding water bills of consumers.

Now, the consumers have to clear only their outstanding bill amount which can be paid in installments, he said.

Addressing a gathering during his "Jan Samvad" programme in Ateli in Mahendragarh district, the chief minister said outstanding water bills of several consumers were pending with the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department for years.

The PHE department had imposed a penalty and interest ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 on those water bills which were pending for a long time.

"When the issue was raised before us, we decided to waive the penalty and the interest of the pending bill amount," an official statement quoted Mr Khattar as saying.

The chief minister said through these Jan Samvad programmes, direct feedback is taken from the public for the work done by the government in the last eight and a half years.

He said more than 14,000 written complaints have been received so far across the state on the Jan Samvad portal, out of which 2,500 have been disposed of. The pending complaints will be resolved soon and information will also be sent to the complainant's mobile number, he said.

Mr Khattar inaugurated two projects completed at a cost of 7 crore from village Sundrah in block Ateli. He also inaugurated the new road from Bachini to Israna Rambas and the Bewal to Rata Kala road.

Speaking on this occasion, the chief minister said the government is working hard to strengthen the infrastructure and healthcare facilities in the state and several steps are being taken in this regard.

Mr Khattar said the youth of southern Haryana has got the maximum number of jobs in the present government's tenure.

The chief minister, meanwhile, said the poor have the first claim on every public welfare scheme being run by the government.

"The BJP government (at the Centre) under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is working for the upliftment of the poor. 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' is the key mantra for executing any developmental project," he said.

"We firmly believe that along with development, we should also provide quality education to our children so that the nation develops and the world progresses," he added

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