VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has started installation of metres to the drinking water taps much to the chagrin of the citizens as well as civil society.The civic body took up the works at Pasupu Thota in Madhura Nagar of the 31st division in the city. Locals alleged that nearly 150 metres were installed from zero line to fifth line without any discussions with the house owners. The residents further said that they are not even aware of how much they would be charged for one litre drinking water.
As soon as news spread, CPM leaders intervened in the issue and staged protests against the fixing of meters.“Installing meters without taking the opining of the public is not appreciable. None of us have been informed of how much the VMC will collect per litre of drinking water,” Kola Sai Kumar, a retired employee of Pasuputotha, rued.
J Lalitha, a homemaker, said, “We cannot afford to pay more taxes or charges. We are already paying house tax, garbage tax, among others. Meters for drinking water only violates the rights of the downtrodden.”
Condemning the civic body’s move, a private employee, G Sambasiva Rao expressed, “We are happy about the announcement of 24 hours water supply, but our concern is the installation of digital meters. We have already experienced several problems with digital meters for power set up by the Energy department.” Alleging that the installation of meters is for increasing the income of municipalities and not for round-the-clock supply of water,
CPM State Executive Member CH Babu Rao exclaimed, “It is the right of the citizens to get purified drinking water and it is the responsibility of the local bodies to provide it.”He also announced that they are planning to stage State-level protests against the State and Central governments by involving all the citizens of 33 Amrut (Atal Misson For Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) cities and towns.
VMC 4th ward corporator of Opposition TDP Jasti Sambasiva Rao condemned the installation of water meters stating that they had objected to the same during TDP’s tenure. “We would announce a plan of action in a couple of days after discussing with our corporators,’’ he said.Meanwhile, the VMC officials condemned the allegation of the parties.
VMC Commissioner Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar said they are preliminarily implementing Azadi Ka Amrit scheme of developing pipelines in 24 wards for continuous supply of water throughout the year by spending Rs 100 crore.
“The system is aimed to address the leakages, illegal usage of motors to protect water sources and distribute under positive equal pressure throughout pipeline and networks,” he explained. He made it clear that no citizen should worry as tariff for water supply will not be changed and there is no such proposal yet.