Rs 7,500 water connection costs Rs 15,000

  • | Tuesday | 26th March, 2019

The going rate for a Metrowater connection, officially Rs 7,500 (plus infrastructure development charges (IDC) for apartments), is Rs 15,000. This is particularly true in newly-added areas where only 50% of residents have connections provided by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board or Metrowater. The 55-year-old flat owner is now the proud owner of a water and sewerage connection after paying Rs 20,000, including IDC, and Rs 7,500 to a tout.The touts, most of them former employees of Metrowater, make things simple. TOI contacted touts Guna and Vijay who said they would come home and collect all the forms for a connection. CHENNAI: The process of obtaining a water and sewerage connection is online and even the charges are fixed, but the officials concerned make it difficult before touts help you get it — for a price.

CHENNAI: The process of obtaining a water and sewerage connection is online and even the charges are fixed, but the officials concerned make it difficult before touts help you get it — for a price. The going rate for a Metrowater connection, officially Rs 7,500 (plus infrastructure development charges (IDC) for apartments), is Rs 15,000. This is particularly true in newly-added areas where only 50% of residents have connections provided by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board or Metrowater. Apartment owners have to shell out up to Rs 30,000.Kolathur resident Lakshmi* paid at least 10 visits to the Metrowater headquarters in Chintadripet and is yet to get a connection.“The first time they told me, I hadn’t filled the form properly. When I corrected it, they said I had to include some family member’s name in the property tax receipts. After I got that done, they sent me back saying the sketch of the property should have more details,” she said. The 50-year-old has now decided to approach a tout.This repeat rejection of applications, says Ambattur United Welfare Association general secretary S Suresh, is the regular method employed. “They can easily tell us to make all corrections in one visit itself,” he said. The 55-year-old flat owner is now the proud owner of a water and sewerage connection after paying Rs 20,000, including IDC, and Rs 7,500 to a tout.The touts, most of them former employees of Metrowater, make things simple. TOI contacted touts Guna and Vijay who said they would come home and collect all the forms for a connection. “We provide services only to known people as we do not want trouble. We will get it done within a week,” said one of the men. Asked if they will not face any problems, one of them said he was a former Metrowater employee and knew everyone there.Thousands of residents of areas like Madipakkam , Thiruvottiyur, Alandur Madhavaram and Manali, all included in the city corporation in 2011, have all been availing of such services to avoid travelling long distances. Meenakshi Sundaram, a 58-year-old central government employee, said, “The authorities should set up offices in each added area so that people needn’t travel 20-30km every time.” More than 10 years ago, officials in Metrowater said, residents of each corporation zone were provided connections in the local office. “The system was centralised to remove irregularities,” said an engineer.This ‘centralisation’, says Ambattur United Welfare Association president P Solai, has complicated things. “We met the former managing director of Metrowater, Ashok Dongre, in January and even met the chief engineers. They all promised action. Nothing has been done,” he said.Metrowater managing director T N Hariharan said residents should lodge complaints. “We are here to take action. We will first issue a showcause notice and if they repeat the offence, we will suspend the officials. Residents can register for these connections online and should not employ any middleman,” he said.(*name changed)

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