VMC to install meters for piped gas connections

Opposition leader Chinnam Gandhi protested against the decision to levy the penalty at the general board meeting,but Gas Project Department officials said the decision ought to have been taken long ago. A resolution was first passed in 2001 to impose a Rs 50 penalty on customers who do not have meters installed or those who have not replaced their faulty meters.

A senior official said: “Had the decision been taken in 2001 to penalise consumers with faulty or no meters,the corporation would have earned in crores.”

Shailesh Naik,In-Charge,Gas Project Department,said: “Earlier,the rates for those who did not have meters used to be the average of the per family member consumption. Today,we charge Rs 12 per unit of gas used,and per family we are giving bills of 23 units. It was only a couple of months ago that we decided to impose a Rs 50 penalty after the matter was passed by the general board. The same proposal was sent in 2001 but for various reasons the matter was kept pending and we were charging the bills by the average consumption criteria.”

Naik said the process to install the meters will start in a couple of months.

At present,VMC boasts of a customer strength of 70,000,and authorities have initiated the process to add another 10,000 new connections. Sources said,besides the 14,000 connections,which don’t have meters,there are another 15,000 connections with faulty meters. Notices have been served for the same,but customers are unwilling to change the faulty instruments as it will result in higher bills.