PANJIM: The PWD (Water Supply) will conduct a survey of residences to ascertain the houses used as home stays and residences used for commercial stay purposes and will soon introduce new tariffs for the houses utilised in the above purposes. The PWD has also decided to go aggressive on disconnecting connections of defaulting consumers.
PWD Chief Engineer Santosh Mhapne informed that the department will start a survey of residences that are being used for commercial stays and home stays and will introduce a new tariff for them soon.
“After 16 units of free water, the houses used for home stays are being charged flat rates. There are complaints that people are receiving hefty bills which is due to the flat rate application and department is blamed,” he said.
The PWD chief engineer also informed that the water supply section will seek help from the Department of Tourism in order to ascertain the houses used for commercial purposes.
In addition to the change of tariffs, Mhapne said that the PWD will now start disconnecting water connections of consumers, who have defaulted beyond two months. The drive will commence soon, he added.
“Many default in paying bills for long time and later opt for One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme. Even if bill amount is in lakhs, the defaulters only pay Rs 10,000. We will soon start disconnecting the water supply of defaulters,” he said appealing to consumers to clear all outstanding water bills payments immediately to avoid delay payment charges and disconnection.
