Cantonment residents to pay more for new water lines

SECUNDERABAD: Property owners desirous of securing new water connections in Secunderabad Cantonment will have to pay more charges. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has proposed to collect the revised water connection charges even from people living in slums.
The proposal will be placed before the SCB) meeting scheduled for Monday . Once the SCB approves the new tariff, officials will collect the revised charges.
The existing charges of `8,500 for half an inch pipeline will be increased to `10,000.About `3,000 will be collected from slum-dwellers.For building with RCC in slum areas, the revised charges are `4,000. The SCB has proposed to collect `8,500 from owners of buildings with more than one floor in slums.
“We have also proposed revised charges for second water connection. For instance, `8,500 is collected from owners in colonies and slums. The revised rate will be `15,000 for colonies. The board will collect a penalty of `5,000 apart from `15,000 for regularisation of illegal connections. In slum areas, `12,000 will be collected for sanction second water connection,“ SCB water wing told TOI.
However, there will be no change in the tariff for halfinch pipe connections. At pre sent, the SCB collects `315 a month towards water charges.In the new proposal, the monthly charges in slums is `160 instead of `315, sources said.
Aproposal of one time settlement (OTS) scheme is also under consideration. This OTS scheme is applicable to slums only . The defaulters, whose arrears are pending till December 2016 should pay `8,500 in addition to the existing arrears. The customers, who paid the arrears, will get water bills from January 2017, said sources. Temples and other places of worship are being exempted from these revised charges.