Complaints of excess water bills have not stopped pouring in from Margao, Fatorda, Benaulim and other constituencies across South Goa – courtesy JICA electronic water meters. Despite Margao MLA Digambar Kamat convening a high-level meeting attended by then Principal Chief Engineer D S Borkar and others two months ago, water consumers are yet to get relief from excess billing running into thousands of rupees.
MARGAO
When The Goan reporter visited the PWD office Div IX, on Tuesday, a retired serviceman came up with a complaint stating that he has received a water bill amounting to Rs 15000 for a period of six months. “My house remains closed for most part of the year. There s just one tap used to water plants. I was shocked to receive a bill of Rs 15,000,” the serviceman told Assistant Engineer Vijai Kudchadkar.A resident of Soddhuband, B Chawan, had a similar complaint. Having received a bill amounting to Rs 6,000, Chawan made an application to the PWD office expressing his inability to pay the amount at one time. He requested for a meter check and instalment facility to pay the amount. Says AE Kudchadkar, “My office is helpless in attending to the grievances of the irate water consumers. We are forced to spend most of the time in attending to excess billing complaints than our routine works.”At the high-level meeting on March 21, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat had sought to know how consumers from his constituency staying at Monte, Aquem, Comba and Malbhat had received huge bills. In fact, he had made a pointed reference to the Moti Dongor slum area, where residents had received bills amounting to Rs 4,000-5,000.The Goan understands that when the Monte Hill slum area was inspected it was found there was no water in the pipes and as a result of air pressure meters were running fast. Monte hill receives water supply only for six hours .Sources in the PWD said that a number of cases have come to light in Aquem and Malbhat areas of the city where people have received exorbitant bills to the tune of Rs 40,000. A team of plumbers and JEs had inspected these location for any unseen leakages, but PWD sources said no leakages were found during the inspection. When The Goan contacted PWD Water supply Executive Engineer Sanjay W, he conceded that the division has received a number of complaints pertaining to excess billings. “We are attending to these complaints. We have sorted out a few complaints and the remaining ones will be taken care of in due course of time,” Sanjay told The Goan.It is, however, learnt that the PWD officials have neither received a copy of the minutes of the March 21 meeting chaired by the Margao MLA nor any guidelines on how to go about giving relief to the beleaguered water consumers.
