BMC’s outstanding water supply dues: Rs3,065 crore

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is paying a hefty price for supplying water to Mumbai, with its hydraulic department reeling under enormous revenue disputes.

The department is yet to receive revenue worth Rs3,065 crore. The civic officials claim that the amount has been pending from the time the department was formed. Latest data from the BMC states that  it has not yet received last year’s net revenue worth Rs200 crore.

Requesting anonymity, a senior civic official divulged that the impending cases of revenue are due to disputes arising from issues of water supply charges and accompanied taxes.

“The revenues hit a roadblock on the aspect of water retailable rates. There seems to be a major flaw in water and sewerage taxes and water and sewerage benefits taxes,” the official stated.

The BMC has categorised water supply rates. The civic body supplies water to slums and chawls at Rs2.25 per 1,000 litres. Cooperative residential societies receive water at Rs3.50 per 1,000 litres. Subsidy worth Rs292 crore is borne by the department in the former category and the latter is bestowed a subsidy of Rs650 crore. In addition, Rs10.23 per 1,000 litre is spent on water treatment and purification.

Despite all such relaxations, the hydraulic department is earning only 58% of returns in the first category. In the second category, it receives 85% of the returns.

Chief hydraulic engineer Vinay Despande refused to comment on the issue. However, another senior official from the department accepted that there was a lack of proportion in the capital-profit cycle.

“The water department has been struggling with an expenses-and-revenue mismatch. Over Rs3,000 crore has been spent so far by the department  for repair and development of water pipelines, while Rs237 crore is spent on distributing water through water reservoirs,” said the official.