PUNE, Jan 29: The civic administration of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has proposed a two-fold hike in domestic water cess and a three-fold hike in water cess for commercial consumers.The proposal comes in the wake of a notification issued by the State Government that water supply rates should be increased for some recovery of the expenditure incurred on the maintenance works by municipal bodies. The government has prescribed the minimum rates for domestic and commercial water supply. Significantly there is no change in the yearly deposit amounts for domestic and non-domestic water supply. The proposal is to come up for discussion at the civic standing committee meeting scheduled next Tuesday The proposal is likely to come into force from April 1.The corporation has allotted nearly 50,000 domestic water supply connections, which constitute nearly 97 per cent of the water consumers. According to the proposal, the yearly fixed water cess for domestic water connections of half inch diameter is to be hiked from Rs 400 to Rs 806. A similar hike has been proposed for water connections of various diameters.Domestic water consumers opting for the meters will have to pay at the rate of Rs 3.45 per thousand litres instead of the present rate of 75 paise per thousand litres. The number of domestic water connections with meters is negligible. Water supply for commercial use will be provided at a rate of Rs 15.55, instead of the present rate of Rs 8. For non-metered commercial water supply, the monthly fee for water connections of half inch diameter will be Rs 300 instead of the present Rs 100. The corporation incurred an yearly expenditure of Rs 22 crore on maintenance works.
