Delhi Budget 2017: Free water, yet Delhi Jal Board earns Rs 178 crore more

Compared to last year's budget, the water department has received an additional fund of just Rs 132 crore. While the government may argue that this is about Rs 600 crore more than the revised estimate, Delhi Jal Board has a mammoth task at hand, to not only provide piped water supply to each household by the end of this year but also to ensure that more and more areas get access to drinking water directly from taps.

“In the revised budget, DJB's share was slashed by some Rs 500 crore. This is definite ly more than that but it remains to be seen what will happen when the current financial year's revised budget comes through. The water utility will manage whatever work has been allocated to it within this amount, in cluding extension of piped network to all areas. The challenge will be to ensure potable water from taps in all areas, especially since Delhi has a huge number of unauthorised colonies,“ said a source.


The government will continue with its scheme of giving free water to those households where consumption is 20kl or less in a month. Interestingly, even as 12.57 lakh consumers are enjoying zero water bills, DJB's revenue has gone up by Rs 178 crore.This, said officials, was partly due to several existing consumers coming under the ambit of metered connections to avail of the free scheme.Rebates and bill waivers by the DJB have also helped in getting more consumers in its net.

Having just started 24x7 supply to two south Delhi colonies, the government said it was preparing a detailed plan to include more areas under the scheme. Provision is being made to generate 20 MGD water through eco-friendly measures.