NASHIK: Nashik Municipal Corporation’s NMC water cess arrears have exceeded Rs 110 crore. As it is becoming difficult to recover such a large amount among very few officers and employees, the Corporation is developing a special app for water bill recovery and this app will be available to the citizens after Diwali.
Through this app, citizens will be able to calculate their bills payable by taking their own water meter readings and citizens will receive bills through WhatsApp and e-mail.
Water is supplied to households in the city through the Municipal Corporation. For this, 2,18000 tap connections have been provided. Household water connection holders are required to pay water bills every two months and commercial pipe connection holders every four months. Nashik Municipal Corporation with an area of 259 square kilometers has 98 employees in the tax department. These employees are also responsible for the recovery of water cess.
Due to insufficient number of staff, water bills are not distributed year after year. Some customers have not been able to get water bills even after five to seven years. Due to non-receipt of timely bills, it is not possible for the common man to pay the rising water bill due to the average bills being paid at the same time. As a result, the water bill arrears have gone up to Rs 110 crore.
While it is expected to get Rs 70-75 crore annually from water supply, the arrears are increasing due to untimely payment. The corporation has started a campaign to recover the arrears when the citizens are already in financial straits due to Corona.
However, due to lack of response from the taxpayers, the Municipal Corporation has finally started moving towards digital route for recovery of water bill. A mobile app will now be developed on the lines of MSEDCL for levying water bill and it will be made available directly to the citizens.
