While the authorities do not hesitate to take action against the common man if he defaults on his monthly water bills, various government departments together owe a whopping Rs 146.38 crore to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The cash-starved Water Board has neither been able to disconnect supply to the defaulting departments nor collect the dues.
Despite several letters to the departments, water bill payments were not made regularly as a result of which the dues mounted. Sources complain that though the Water Board has been supporting the cause of the government in supplying potable drinking water to hundreds of fluoride-affected villages in Nalgonda and other villages in Ranga Reddy and Medak districts en route its water supply lines of Krishna Phase-I and Phase-II and Singur and Manjira, it has not got the needed support from the government in terms of prompt bill payments by the departments.
The financial position of the Board has now deteriorated so much that it has started defaulting on payments of its electricity bills to the Central Discom. The successive hikes in electricity tariffs have increased the monthly bills from around Rs 10 crore per month to over Rs 26 crore. As on date, the Water Board owes around Rs 165 crore towards electricity charges to the power utility.