No development, infrastructure charges for new water, sewer connections: Kejriwal
What's the story
On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the Delhi Jal Board will not levy development and infrastructure charges on new water and sewer connections. Addressing a press conference, the CM said that Delhiites will now have to pay just Rs. 2,310 to get new water and sewer connections. On Monday, Kejriwal had announced the 'Mukhyamantri Muft Sewer Connection Yojana.' Here's more.
Details
'Hope more people will get new water, sewer connections now'
The DJB has decided that development and infrastructure charges will not be levied, Kejriwal said. He said citizens are now required to pay just Rs. 2,310 for new water or sewer connection, irrespective of the size of their plot. "We hope more people will get new water and sewer connections now and the extent of non-revenue water (NRW) will reduce," said Kejriwal.
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'Earlier, for 200m plot, citizens paid Rs. 1.1lakh development charges'
Announcing "huge reforms" in the DJB, Kejriwal started off by saying, "When we came to power, Rs. 500/sqm development charges were levied which were reduced to Rs. 100." He said, "Despite the reduction, we have realized, the development charges remained steep. If someone had a 200m plot, they would have to pay Rs. 1,14,110 as development charges for new water or sewer connection today."
Reason
'Steep development, infrastructure charges hindered people from getting new connections'
Kejriwal said that despite people's demands for water pipelines, once they were installed, people would not opt for new water and sewer connections. He said the reason for this was the steep development and infrastructure charges which made people hesitant to get new connections. This led to a surge in illegal connections through pipelines, he said.
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93% of Delhi has water pipelines, says Kejriwal
Further, Kejriwal said, "When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government took over, there were piped water lines only in 58% of Delhi; now that number has gone up to 93%. Gradually, we will install pipelines across Delhi."
Water quality
'Don't want to do politics over water'
Responding to queries about recent concerns over Delhi's water quality, Kejriwal said, "I don't want to do politics over water." He requested people to come forth with complaints of dirty water, if any. "When we came to power, over 2,300 regions had complaints of dirty water. That's reduced to under 125 regions," he said, adding "70-year-old problems can't be undone in 5 years."
Information
Water complaints in three regions to be resolved by December
Additionally, Kejriwal said the government is already looking into complaints of dirty water in Palam village's Dhoomvati Gali, Deepak Vihar in Vikaspuri, and Mandavali in Patparganj, which will be resolved by December. Complaints in Vikaspuri's K5 Block will be resolved by January, he added.