Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma on Thursday said the Delhi Government will bring a full water bill waiver scheme in the next few months. For water bill waiver scheme, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is working on improving its billing system software and the work will be completed in two to three months.   Soon we are planning to waive the entire late payment surcharges for domestic and Government categories by 100 per cent, Verma said. To improve water and sewerage services in the national capital, Verma, has cleared a series of significant reforms and infrastructure projects at the DJBs Board meeting including empowerment of the DJB to directly handle water and sewerage schemes for land development agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the revival of the long-stalled ADB-funded Delhi Water Supply Improvement Project in the Wazirabad command area and the approval of comprehensive sewerage networks in Sonia Vihar and Hasanpur groups of colonies. The board has also approved a collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to revive the Wazirabad water supply improvement project.  The project was conceptualised in 2013. However, the ADB later recused themselves from this project. `2,433 crore in funds were to be provided by them for the project. We have approved the project now and will restart the entire process. As the funding will be provided from overseas, we would require permission from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Verma said. The Wazirabad project will cost around `3,715 crore after escalation, the Government said. This project will benefit over 30.16 lakh people, covering an area of 123 square kilometers, including areas of Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Model Town, Burari, Lawrence Road, Punjabi Bagh, Shakur Basti, Jahangirpuri, Shastri Nagar, Avantika, Pitampura and nearby areas. One of the most important decisions taken at the meeting was to reverse a 2019 policy that had required full board clearance for water and sewerage schemes connected to DDA and similar land development agencies. Prior to that change, these proposals were cleared at the level of the Chief Engineer (Planning), allowing for faster execution. The 2019 decision had led to delays in releasing critical schemes, postponement of infrastructure charges from developers and ultimately stalled the allotment of homes to thousands. Projects affected included the in-situ rehabilitation plan for slum dwellers at Katputli Colony and the water supply scheme for LIG and EWS housing in Narela. With the boards latest approval, DJB will now be able to manage and implement these schemes directly, ensuring faster execution, better service delivery and quicker revenue realisation. In a bid to improve sewer connectivity across the city, the DJB has also approved two projects in unauthorised colonies in east Delhis Sonia Vihar and Hassanpur areas. A lot of sewage directly enters from these colonies into the river. We will trap and then treat the sewage flowing by laying new lines. This will help in improving the health of Yamuna, Verma said. The Sonia Vihar project costing `69 crore will be completed in one year, a new decentralised sewage treatment plant will be constructed for Hassanpur. The entire cost of this project, which will be completed in one and a half years, will be `51.43 crore.  Verma further said the proposal to fill 131 vacancies through the process of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) was approved during the DJBs board meeting and the file has been submitted to the LG office for approval. The DJB will also consider job applications from retired engineers, who have worked in public sector units (PSUs) to ensure better execution and technical supervision of projects. The retired engineers would work as consultants.

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