MARGAO
Water consumers from Salcete continue to cry foul over the hefty water bills raised by the Public Works Department, as they resolved not to pay the bills, demanding rectification and issuance of bills every month.
Sunday saw Davorlim villagers protesting over the hefty bills raised by the PWD department. In fact, armed with the water bills, consumers told the media that they have received water bills, ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 14,000, with one consumer claiming that he received a bill of around Rs 21,000.
Squarely blaming the PWD department for raising the bills of the six-month period by calculating the amount on different slabs for no fault of theirs, the consumers demanded issuance of the bills every month to help them to clear the bills.
Anand Sawant reminded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had promised that the government would do a re-think on the bills, but lamented that nothing has been done to give relief to the consumers.
“The government announced with a bang to provide 16,000 litres free water to the people, but what the people received from the government are hefty bills. People have no money to pay the bills. Our water consumption has remained the same, but the bills have gone up manifold for no faults of us,” he said.
Anand wondered whether it is right on the part of any government to charge high water tariff in a welfare State when water is a basic necessity. “The PWD should raise the bills every month. If they take their salaries every month, why are they not raising the bills on a monthly basis,” he wondered.
Rosy Miranda echoed similar sentiments. She has received a bill of Rs 10,000 when many others have received zero bills. An agitated Rosy said the PWD can even lift away the water meter, but she will not pay the bill come what may, saying she is not in a position to clear the Rs 10,000 bill.
The water consumers demanded in one voice that the government make arrangements to raise the bills every month. A woman pointed out that it becomes difficult to clear the huge bills when their earning members are at home as patients.
A two-member family from the same village has claimed they have received a bill of Rs 14,000 for a six-month period. “We used to receive bill amounting to Rs 1,000, but now the bill has increased manifold. We have been served a bill amounting to Rs 14,000,” she added.
