Jal Board may extend deadline to get meters

DJB officials said extension of the deadline was being considered as DJB-specified domestic meters were not easily available in the market.

“Considering the difficulties residents are facing in getting multi-jet meters,we are planning to extend the last date by a month or may be two,” DJB CEO Ramesh Negi said. He added that the board will take the final decision.

Instead of the easily available single-jet meters,DJB had said that residents should install multi-jet meters.

Suraj Chand,a resident of Mandawali,said,“I was told that I could buy my own meter and get it installed. But what if the DJB does not approve the meter? And then I don’t know where to buy the meter.”

“All residents in our colony have got their meters replaced,” Manjeet Singh Chugh,joint secretary of the South Extension-I RWA,said. “But there are issues regarding availability of DJB-specified meters for unauthorised colonies like Kotla Mubarakpur and Okhla.”

Over eight lakh water meters in Delhi,including 50,000 commercial connections,have to be installed or replaced by December 31.

Officials said they were in touch with meter manufacturers,who have been asked to help people in installing meters and provide plumbers if required.

Negi said meter manufacturers have been asked to set up stalls at Bhagidari workshops to inform people about the specifications. The first such workshop was held at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday.

Pankaj Aggarwal,general secretary of the Delhi RWA Joint Forum,said: “Getting meters and installing them should have been done by the DJB. The quality of meters we get from the market is not just bad,but they also give erratic readings.” Often,the DJB has been criticised for losing over 40 per cent of its water to leakages and theft. In absence of a proper accounting system,the utility has been unsuccessful in assessing its water loss so far.

To plug losses,the DJB has also taken up the project to install bulk water meters at all water treatment plants,distribution mains,underground reservoirs and booster pumping stations in the city.