A file photo of water being pumped into a tanker at TSR Complex for supply to parts of Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: C.V.Subrahmanyam more-in Spending a whopping ?5 crore a month on electricity bills alone, GVMC can’t afford to lag behind on water tax collection. But even as water supply gets top priority, arrears have been mounting with a large number not paying water tax for household service connections. Ironically, for property tax collection discontinuing water supply is the stick wielded for early realisation though it is not resorted to. According to sources, a staggering one lakh assesses have to pay arrears, some even ranging above ?10,000. The entire household service connections come to about 1.8 lakh. While those in BPL category pay ?60 a month, others pay ?120. Bulk and semi-bulk connections account for the lion’s share of the ?200 crore water demand. However, against it the total expenditure on water supply is ?220 crore. While raw water from Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company (VISCOW) costs ?15 a kilolitre, GVMC takes 22 MGD and supplies treated water at the same cost. With the expenditure on supply exceeding, GVMC is focussing on collecting the arrears. The demand for household connections is roughly Rs.21 crore a year on an average. With the addition of more HSCs it goes up. But the present arrears stand at ? 34 crore. “For the past five years some have not been paying the water tax resulting in the arrears remaining uncollected every year for nearly five years now and going up to?5 crore a year,” say sources. In some wards like 52 and 5, it is as high as ?80 lakh. To realise the dues, GVMC has begun a door-to-door campaign. As a result the payment has been increasing consistently. On February 15, the collection was ?2.95 lakh while the next day it jumped to ?3.8 lakh and further to ? 7.5 lakh on February 21, it was learnt. The drive will be continued to realise the arrears.

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