Team Herald
PANJIM: Accusing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of being incompetent, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief Ministerial candidate Advocate Amit Palekar on Saturday alleged that the free water scheme of the BJP government is nothing but a multi-crore scam.
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According to an AAP press release, the party filed a RTI request to gain more information on inflated water bills, and the response revealed that many people in the State are receiving a five-fold increase in charges. The consumers who should have received no bills had to pay Rs 200, and those who should have received Rs 200 bills were given Rs 1000 bills.
Advocate Amit Palekar said, “In our possession are the water bills of Kalapur and St Inez residents and the RTI response has revealed how incompetent the CM and the PWD are. There are errors in the units’ readings and the people have been receiving inflated water bills”.
“The previous bill reading of a St Inez resident was *1* and his current reading is *0*. However, he has been charged Rs 442 for 50 units. Another St Inez resident’s previous bill reading was 1707 and his current reading is 1753. He has been charged Rs 2,248 for 50 units, while the actual consumed units are 46″.
He said, “Another St Inez resident, whose previous bill reading was 1845 and his current reading is 0, has arrears of Rs 270. He has been charged Rs 871 for 68 units. Another resident from the above area whose previous bill reading was 2016 and his current reading is 0, has arrears of Rs 6,181. He has been charged Rs 6,662 for 69 units”.
Palekar claimed that the people should have received zero bills, yet they have been paying water bills for months after CM’s promise. The government is earning Rs four crore per month, which translates into Rs 48 crore per year. The amount is not small; this is a multi-crore scam. This indicates a systematic scam is being perpetrated by the chief minister and his ministers.
