PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party CM candidate Adv Amit Palyekar on Saturday has alleged that the free water scheme of the BJP government is nothing but a scam. As the free water promise runs out, Palyekar chides Pramod Sawant, saying he is an incompetent CM, states a press note.
According to the press note, AAP filed a RTI request to gain more information on inflated water bills, and the response revealed that many people in the State are receiving a five-fold increase in charges. The consumers who should have received no bills had to pay Rs 200, and those who should have received Rs 200 bills were given Rs 1000 bills.
While addressing the media, Adv Palyekar stated, “In our possession are the water bills of Kalapur and St Inez residents and the RTI response has revealed how incompetent the CM and his PWD department are. There are errors in the units’ readings and the people have been receiving inflated water bills.”
“Bill number 4040186 belongs to a resident from St Inez whose previous reading was 1 and his current reading is 0. He has been charged Rs 442 for 50 units. Another resident of St Inez with the bill number is 411 0193 his previous reading was 1707 and his current reading is 1753. He has been charged Rs 2248 for 50 units, while the actual consumed units is 46.”
He further stated, “Bill number 1464 0221 belongs to a resident from St Inez whose previous reading was 1845 and his current reading is 0 and has arrears of Rs 270. He has been charged Rs 871 for 68 units. Bill number 1458 0223 belongs to a resident from St Inez whose previous reading was 2016 and his current reading is 0 and has arrears of Rs 6181. He has been charged Rs 6662 for 69 units.”
Palyekar claimed that the people should have received zero bills, yet they have been paying water bills for months after CM’s promise. “The government is earning Rs four crore per month, which translates into Rs 48 crore per year. The amount is not small; this is a multi-crore scam. This indicates a systematic scam is being perpetrated by the chief minister and his ministers.
Earlier, Palyekar had slammed the Pramod Sawant-led government for charging interest on water bill arrears and challenged Sawant for debate on inflated water bills.
