BENGALURU: Your water bill could go up by around 35 per cent, if the government approves the proposal of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to increase tariff.
The Board, which held a meeting on Monday, finalised the proposal for the tariff hike in the city after a gap of six years. “The proposed hike is around 35 per cent,” said a reliable source.
However, BWSSB Chairman Tushar Girinath refused to divulge any specifics about the proposed increase in tariff. “We have presented three different proposals to the government. Full recovery of all our expenses, which include a tariff that would help us meet all our loans and expenses, partial recovery which would help us meet only loans taken from private corporations and expenses, and revenue recovery that would help us meet only our operational expenses without any loan amount being considered. We have recommended the partial recovery option.”
Currently, BWSSB levies a minimum charge of Rs 56 on every consumer plus slab rates depending on consumption. “In case of domestic consumers, the rate is Rs 7 per kilo litre (kl) up to 8,000 litres; Rs 11 per kl from 8,001 to 25,000 litres; Rs 25 per kl from 25,001 to 50,000 litres; and Rs 45 per kl for 50,001 litres and above,” an official explained.
The sanitary charge is a flat rate of Rs 14 for those whose water consumption is up to 8,000 litres (first slab) and 25 per cent of water charges per month for those consuming higher than 8,000 litres, he said. For non-domestic consumers, the minimum is Rs 500 and the tariff slabs range from Rs 50 per kl for consumption up to 10,000 litres, and Rs 87 for those consuming above 75,000 kl.
Engineer-in-chief Kemparamaiah said the tariff hike is imminent as electricity charges are increased every two years. “Our water pumping charges hover at Rs 48-50 crore a month out of our revenue of Rs 110 crore due to regular increase in power bills.”
Board to certify sanitary workers
BWSSB has also introduced a regulation which bars apartments or houses from hiring individuals to carry out any cleaning work. “We will train and certify sanitary workers and display their contact details, and only they can be hired,” Girinath said. This has been done in the interest of safety of unorganised private labourers, he added.